UNDER THE RADAR:AT THE age of 32, Achim Gottstein is experiencing his first recession. And yet somehow it all seems eerily familiar, having watched his parents and the family construction company battle their way through the downturn of the 1980s.
“I suppose you could say owning and running my own business was hardwired into me,” he reflects. “Business was very much part of our home environment, and I saw all the highs and lows along the way. So I’ve never had any illusions.
“What struck me about the Eighties was that my father never gave up on his determination to provide a high-quality product, irrespective of what the competition did . . . and everyone was undercutting everyone else in construction at the time.
“To that extent, the parallels between how he did business then and how we’re doing it now are becoming more and more strikingly apparent to me every day.” And yet, while Achim Gottstein and his late father, Alfred, worked in the same sector, they were never, strictly speaking, in the same business.
A Sudetan German, Alfred Gottstein came to Ireland in the Sixties to work in Killarney as a manager with Liebherr, a construction company set up in the aftermath of the second World War, which subsequently switched to the manufacture of cranes.
Such was the number of Germans being brought to Killarney by Liebherr that the company decided to open its own school for employees’ children – and that’s how Gottstein’s schoolteacher mother, Ute, came to Ireland . . . and met his father.
When it came time to choose a career, young Achim Gottstein decided on architecture – to the dismay of his father, who wanted him to become an engineer.
“I think he believed life as an engineer would be easier than life as an architect. In his view there were more certainties in engineering; problems were calculated and solutions found. On the other hand, he felt that architecture – outside the principles of good design – was too much a matter of opinion and debate. But what always intrigued me about architecture while I was watching buildings under construction was the thought behind the design – how spaces were proportioned, assembled and orientated.”
In 2003, after three years with Dublin practice Donnelly Turpin – with whom the last project he worked on was the Irish Times building on Tara Street – he set up Gottstein Architects. The timing couldn’t have been better.
“I’d thought about going to get some experience abroad, but the economy was on an upward spiral and I decided to seize the momentum. We had a steep growing curve, doubling our turnover every year for the first four years. And I have to say that from a business point of view, it was a bit daunting to go from being handed a cheque every month to writing cheques for other people. We began working with Paddy Mulvihill and Joe Moran, designing a development for Limerick’s docklands. Then with Bill Cullen. And in 2005 we won an unprecedented contract for a small practice – the €70 million redevelopment of the Europe Hotel in Killarney.
The Europe Hotel project was particularly important for Gottstein personally – because the hotel was originally built by his father back in the early Sixties. Not alone that, but the building was originally, and remains to this day, owned by the Liebherr family. “This was the time of spa-mania, so the key element was a 4,500-square-metre, five-star spa, along with a redesign of the conference centre, new bedrooms and a new reception area. It was an important win for us.”
As to the economic climate and the prospects ahead, Gottstein believes tighter finances will mean a "flight to quality". His logic is simple: "Our ethos is one of rigorous attention to detail, where everything is considered and there are no surprises for the client. Also, people's expectations have moved on, not least because of television programmes like Grand Designs. They're no longer happy with second best."
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ON THE RECORD
Name: Achim Gottstein
Company: Gottstein Architects www.gottsteinarchitects.com
Job: Founder and principal
Age:32
Background: Studied architecture at Dublin Institute of Technology, Bolton Street, and at RWTH Aachen University, graduating in 1999. Shortlisted in 2001 for the International Design Competition for Kildare Civic Offices. Joined Donnelly Turpin Architects. Set up Gottstein Architects in 2003. Has worked with businessmen Bill Cullen, Paddy Mulvihill and Joe Moran. In 2005, won the contract for the €70 million redevelopment of the five-star Hotel Europe in Killarney, completed last year.
Inspired by: "My father, Alfred, who made his way across Europe after the war, settled in Killarney working for Liebherr, and then set up his own construction business. From a professional point of view, British architect, John Pawson, a minimalist who pays rigorous attention to detail."
Challenges: "I'm an optimist, which is good in the current climate. Projects don't get stopped at the moment, they get 'paused'. The question of when things come off pause is the big question everyone has for Brian Cowen at the moment . . ."
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