TAELON7 is an architecture and research practice led by Juergen Benson-Strohmayer dedicated to transforming space into a medium for liberation. Rooted in innovation, collaboration, and sustainability, we navigate across disciplines, geographies, and scales to craft environments that are meaningful, responsive, and forward-thinking. Our work engages architecture as a catalyst for social and environmental transformation — rethinking land use, materiality, and construction methods to create equitable and sustainable futures. From cultural and civic interventions to residential and community-driven spaces, we embrace long-term collaborations with local communities, institutions, artists, and artisans to foster spatial solutions that are deeply contextual and impact-driven. With a portfolio spanning built work, exhibitions, and research, our projects have been recognized globally for their radical approach to ecological and architectural discourse.
At TAELON7, we believe that architecture is more than building — it is a statement, an ecosystem, and a trajectory towards liberation.
Clients & Collaborators
African Futures Institute
[Applied] Foreign Affairs
Austrian Cultural Forum Rome
boy.brother.friend
crazinisT artisT studiO
DeRoche Projects
dot.ateliers
Galerie Belvedere
Galerie G99
Global Mamas
Goethe Institut Addis Ababa
Kenneth Ize
La Biennale di Venezia
Marrakech Biennale
nav_s baerbel mueller
Nii Obodai
Nuku Studio
Nubuke Foundation
Nyaho Medical Centre
Surf Ghana
Selected Recognition
Holcim Gold Award for Sustainable Construction – Middle East & Africa (2023)*
Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative, Nominee (2022)
Tische Stipendium for Young Architects, Austria (2016)
AR Old into New Award, Shortlisted (2023)*
AN Best of Design Awards, Editor’s Pick for dot.ateliers Ogbojo (2024)*
Selected Press
Architectural Digest: “Explore Amoako Boafo’s Art-Filled Retreat in Accra” (2024)
STIRworld: “Surf Ghana Collective sees contextualisation as celebration” (2024)
Architectural Review: “Made with Care: Fair Trade Zone” (2023)
Wallpaper and Departures: Features on Surf Ghana Collective (2023)
Le Monde: “Au Ghana, le surf fait bouger les lignes” (2023)
Monocle Magazine: “Nation Buildings – Accra” (2022)
Domus, Designboom, Elle Décor Italia, BauNetz: Features on Nubuke Extended (2020)
Topos Magazine: “Metropolis Explained – Accra” (2020)
Authored Texts
“Comfort and Confidence: Sensitivities of the Body and Landscape in Architecture”
boy.brother.friend, Issue 4: Value (2022)
“Metropolis Explained – Accra”
Topos Magazine (2020)
“The worth of a piece of land…” — Interview with Niiashie Adjaye In East Legon Past Forward, ISBN 978-3-9504894-1-5 (2019)
East Legon Past Forward (co-editor)
[Applied] Foreign Affairs, University of Applied Arts Vienna, ISBN 978-3-9504894-1-5 (2019)
[Applied] Foreign Affairs (co-editor)
Birkhäuser, ISBN 978-3-0356-1100-7 (2016)
“will you come back tomorrow?”
Exeunt Magazine (2012)
*a collaboration
Selected Exhibitions
La Biennale di Venezia — Guests from the Future, Plugin Busua (2023)*
Galerie Belvedere, Vienna — Proper Love, Volta Pavilion for Amoako Boafo (2024)*
Austrian Cultural Forum Rome — New Austrian Architecture (2022)
Shibaura House, Tokyo — Group Exhibition (2023)
Chale Wote Street Art Festival, Accra — Tracing the Periphery (2018)*
Goethe Institut, Addis Ababa & Miami Center for Architecture & Design — Contemporary Architecture in Ethiopia (2016)
OFF Marrakech Biennale, Morocco — Tracing the Periphery (2016)*
Juergen Benson-Strohmayer is the founding architect of TAELON7, a practice that moves between architecture, research, and making — always beginning with a question: what if space could be a tool for liberation? Over the past decade, Juergen has lived and worked in Ghana, Nigeria, Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, and Austria, developing projects that respond to context, collaborate with communities, and challenge conventional ways of building and being. From art campuses and surf houses to galleries and pavilions, his work questions norms, prejudices, and assumptions — proposing architectures that are both grounded and visionary. Rooted in a tradition of experimental design, Juergen’s approach is rigorous yet intuitive, marrying clarity with complexity, and care with spectacle. His projects have been exhibited at the Venice Architecture Biennale and the Belvedere Museum, and recognized with awards including the Holcim Gold Award for Sustainable Construction. Splitting his time between Accra, London, and Vienna, Juergen uses TAELON7 as a platform to imagine spatial futures that are raw, intentional, and deeply connected to place.
Portrait © Christian Saint