Co-founder and partner of Crossboundaries, established in 2005 in Beijing. She graduated
from architecture in Germany and the United States and worked in both countries, before
moving to China in 2002. She is a registered architect in Germany, appointed member of
the BDA (Association of German Architects) and AIA International Associate member. Binke
Lenhardt has been practicing for about two decades working on diverse projects in
Germany, Holland, the US and China.
Her approach to projects of any given nature and scale is always driven by the curiosity to
examine and expand the designated programs so that they reach their highest and most
community beneficial potentials. Binke follows the projects of the office all the way to
realization, always with a keen attention to details and readiness to learn and improve on
available technical solutions. She engages actively in any stage of project development and
welcomes the exchange and interaction with the client and user whenever possible.
formal version:
Binke Lenhardt
holds a Diploma degree in Architecture from the University of Applied Sciences, Dortmund,
Germany, and a Master’s degree in Architecture from Pratt Institute, New York, USA.
After studying and practicing in Germany, the Netherlands, and the United States for about 5
years, she moved to Beijing in 2002, attending Chinese studies at Beijing Normal University in
Beijing and then working for the Beijing Institute of Architectural Design (BIAD).
In 2005, together with Hao Dong, Binke Lenhardt co-founded Crossboundaries in Beijing. She
is also the co-founder of the Frankfurt office of Crossboundaries, which was established
together with Antje Voigt in 2012.
Binke Lenhardt is a registered architect in Germany and was appointed as a member of the
BDA (Association of German Architects) in 2016. She has taught architectural design at the
Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA) and also at Tsinghua University and frequently lectures at
universities as well as at public forums and events.
Binke Lenhardt has received several international awards and fellowships, i.e. the Fulbright
Grant for Mutual Understanding, the Sidney Katz Award for talented graduate students of
Architecture, the DAAD Graduate Scholarship for study and work in China, and funding from
the Robert Bosch Foundation.
She is a member of ski (stadtkultur international e.v.), a member of the Advisory Board of XJTLU
(Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University) in the Department of Architecture, and has been appointed
as a juror of diverse architectural awards, i.e. the Architizer A+Award and IUPA (International
Urban Project Award), just to name a few.