Annika Peplies

Architect AKH (M.Sc.) | Exploring the Emotional Impact of Space I Architectural Psychology & Human-Centered Design I Consulting | Participatory Processes

Munich, Bavaria, Germany

About

I design spaces that hold people. Not just functionally — but psychologically, atmospherically, with the human being at the center. This conviction didn't arrive all at once. It grew through practice — on construction sites, in participatory workshops, and through years of deliberate study at the intersection of architecture and psychology: architectural psychology at IAP ZHAW Zürich, color as a design tool with perception psychologist Axel Buether, architecture for the senses in healthcare design, and the emerging field of healthy urban systems at the University of Lausanne and TU Munich. After working in established practices across Frankfurt and Darmstadt, I recently relocated to Munich to focus on exactly this: architecture that takes seriously what space does to people — in interior design, in consulting, and in formats that make space something you can actually feel. Spaces shape who we are. And who we can become.

Experience

  • Architektin AKH at Hirschmuellerschmidt Architektur GmbH
    Apr 2025 - Mar 2026 · 1 yr

    Participatory design processes that go beyond checkbox consultation: working in an interdisciplinary team to develop spaces for work, encounter, and learning — always asking what a space does to the people who inhabit it every day. Focus areas: workshop-based needs assessment and cost planning for the pharmaceutical industry, open-office and meeting space concepts for the life sciences sector.

  • Architektin AKH at dg/d-architekten
    Jun 2022 - Oct 2024 · 2 yrs 5 mos

    A building only becomes architecture the moment someone lives in it. Two and a half years of project and site management taught me that the distance between drawing and reality is where the real design decisions happen — on site, under pressure, with people. Residential new builds and conversions from concept to construction (LPH 3–8), flex-office conversion for a major development bank, feasibility studies for a daycare center and mixed-use buildings.

  • Projetkarchitektin at o5 Architekten Bda
    May 2021 - Jun 2022 · 1 yr 2 mos

    Children don't just use spaces — they are shaped by them. Working on the conversion of KiTa K12 in Frankfurt was an early and formative encounter with what it means to design for people who can't yet articulate what they need, but feel everything. This project sharpened my conviction that architecture is always psychology — and that the most careful design decisions are often the ones nobody consciously notices.

  • Lehrbeauftragte Entwerfen & Stadtgestaltung at Fachbereich Architektur der TU Darmstadt
    Apr 2021 - Sep 2021 · 6 mos

    TU Darmstadt I FB Architektur I FG Städtebau und Entwerfen Prof. i. V. Dipl.-Ing. Verena Schmidt, teleinternetcafé

  • Wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin Entwerfen & Stadtplanung at Fachbereich Architektur der TU Darmstadt
    Apr 2020 - Sep 2020 · 6 mos

    TU Darmstadt I FB Architektur I FG Städtebau und Entwerfen Prof. i. V. Dipl.-Ing. Verena Schmidt, teleinternetcafé