Thorben Gröbel

Thorben Gröbel (DE/93) is an architect based in Berlin.
He studied Architecture at the State Academy of Fine Arts Stuttgart (DE) and obtained a Master’s from the Studio For Immediate Spaces at the Sandberg Instituut in Amsterdam (NL).
 
Thorben works collaboratively on architectural scenarios under the name of Spazio Cura (Spazio = Space; Cura = Curate / Care).
 
Spazio Cura is a spatial and curatorial practice that gently intervenes within the existing scripts of public space and architectural settings.
For each context, Spazio Cura develops specific performative scenarios that take its constituting elements into account — the built and unbuilt, its actants, political factors and economical flows.
 
For these scenarios, Spazio Cura aims to find delicate entry points to weave gentle, sensuous, and subtle gestures into existing structures, to rewrite the prevailing scripts and challenge ingrained patterns.
 
Each scenario is comprised of a set of tools, objects, garments and gestures, designed and developed by Spazio Cura and its network of collaborators.
 
During every step of the process, Spazio Cura thrives for radical acceptance of the existing while using as little, non-extractive material means as necessary for a maximum spatial outcome. Thereby, space-making is not seen as the necessity to demolish or build new volumes, but rather as an act of care for the existing, of revealing hidden spatial potential and by that bringing forth a new aesthetic.
 
Next to the work with Spazio Cura and with an equal mindset, Thorben works under his own name on personal pieces, furniture, interiors and other commissions. The projects, which can take various shapes and configurations, are linked by a common material language, idiosyncratic aesthetic and critical mode.