Holistic approach – Bernd Gruber

Holistic approach

Our vision is also our core promise.
Our credo: Beauty that touches (creating value).

Driven by a deep interest in people, we develop individual environments that enrich lives in the long term. However, we are not only concerned with the end result, but also with the journey to get there.

A project that spans years is a shared journey—and for Bernd Gruber, this journey begins with the Empathy Workshop.

This concerns the relationship between builders and the design team, which is based on mutual understanding and getting to know each other, and ultimately forms the basis of mutual trust. This foundation is essential for the successful completion of a project from both perspectives.

We do not make promises we cannot keep, and we rely heavily on the constructive input of our customers. The main focus is on understanding basic needs and establishing a level of trust in communication so that we can then fulfill the specific wishes and expectations of our clients. Emotional needs and personalities play just as much a role here as personal wishes and lifestyles.

Our vision is to "create lasting identities," "keep spaces timelessly alive," and "make values visible." That is why we consciously ask ourselves: "What moves our clients?" What forces and interests are at play? What decisions need to be made, and how are they made?

Those who consciously choose Bernd Gruber and contact us have certain expectations that we must see, understand, and take into account, which is a particular challenge throughout all creative processes. We design with a holistic approach. We always want to take a holistic view of a project and pay special attention to its origins, local conditions, and cultural roots. This allows us to design in Los Angeles just as we would on Sylt or in Kitzbühel. The important thing is that it feels right, and this feeling needs to be worked out in the empathy workshop and the DNA of the building owners decoded.

The key factor for success on this shared journey is always a relationship based on trust, which develops through an intensive exchange of personal preferences and dislikes, dos and don'ts, understanding and misunderstanding, and ideally describes a special feeling of security, connection, and appreciation on both sides.

To ensure that the customer understands us as well, during the empathy phase we describe not only our corporate culture and our self-image, but also all of our work and creative processes, from conception and planning to execution. We explain in detail the tools we use, present images, mood boards, and renderings, and exchange ideas.

We consistently set standards by combining quality craftsmanship, timeless design, and holistically conceived architecture.

The empathy workshop is very important because it is about understanding the customer's style and wishes, which also forms the basis for the start of the project. Without the empathy workshop, you are designing in the dark and may waste time unnecessarily. You ask the customer a wide variety of questions to find out what their specific needs are—what is particularly important to them, what their daily routines are, what their specific habits are, which rooms are particularly important to them, how they move around their home, etc. And that is the project basis we need to inspire our customers in the long term."

Markus Pollinger – Creative Director

The aim of the empathy workshop is to gain a comprehensive and in-depth understanding of the customer through targeted questions, while communicating our process and our values. This forms the basis for successful and unique next steps.

Elif Turgal Hofbauer – Senior Designer

The process

We only design and implement once we have understood our customers
We always implement interior concepts with the same motivation as if we were designing them for ourselves. In this way, we experiment with unusual materials and subtle breaks until we, and of course our customers in particular, are completely satisfied.

This begins even before the shell is built and continues throughout the entire construction phase—we approach things from the ground up. Every detail, even if it is not visible in the end, is treated with the utmost care.

We take our time and listen carefully. Through intensive dialogue with our customers, we develop a deeper understanding of their wishes and needs and of the location of the respective project. Only when all the details are right have we achieved our goal: to design beautiful spaces where our customers feel comfortable and at home.

The philosophy

Our philosophy reflects our motivation.

People influence their surroundings, and we believe that surroundings also influence people. That is precisely why it is important to us to create an atmosphere that takes into account both the residents and the place where they live. Everything is connected. Only those who understand this can create spaces that also say something about their residents. The connection between our manufacturing facility and our design office enables us to develop concepts that follow function in their form while still meeting the highest design standards.