Detlef Weitz's creative roots go back to the experimental 1990s, characterised by interdisciplinary teams and exciting performances in collaboration with artists, designers and humanities scholars. Even during his studies, Weitz distinguished himself through successful participation in competitions, with his intensive engagement with German history culminating in winning the Wall Memorial Competition.

The study exchange in Canada opened up the field of free thematic exploration, resulting in catalogues, exhibition formats and environments. These projects and his impressive network led him to go freelance immediately after graduating in architecture in May 1998. His first major project was Expo 2000, in which Weitz continued his strong interest in contemporary content.

Together with Rose Epple, he founded the office chezweitz&roseapple in 2002, which became chezweitz GmbH after her departure in 2013, when Dr Sonja Beeck joined the office as a congenial business partner.

Detlef Weitz sees the field of scenography as a political terrain in which unusual approaches strengthen political awareness. For him, sensual pleasure and political experience are inextricably linked, and this conviction continues to shape his fascinating journey through the world of scenography.

Sonja Beeck has been working for 30 years as an architect, scenographer and strategist for innovative formats of mediation in the museum sector as well as in the field of institutional, urban and regional development. 

After graduating from RWTH Aachen University, she began her career in classical building construction in Cologne and London. Her doctoral research at the KIT in Karlsruhe with Prof. Alex Wall on 'Theming as a method for the semantic programming of space' took her to New York, Las Vegas and Florida and to her later work as a scenographer. The academic work was completed at the International Bauhaus College in Dessau and has been published online. For eight years she developed scenarios and projects for 19 shrinking cities for the Bauhaus in Dessau and the IBA Urban Redevelopment 2010 in Saxony-Anhalt. Her experience in the fields of architecture, theming, special formats of urban and regional development, strategy development and communication, as well as in working with committees and communicating with citizens, has been incorporated into her work for the IBA and further developed there.

As a visiting professor for urban and regional planning at the University of Innsbruck (2006-2009) and as a deputy professor for urban and regional planning at the University of Kassel (2010-2013), she was also able to reflect on and test her ideas, methods and strategic approaches with students. In 2011, the Berlin Senate Department for Urban Development commissioned her, together with Martin Heller and a team of experts, to design an IBA Berlin 2020. As managing director of the first commercial building group, she built FRIZZ23 in Berlin (German Urban Development Award 2022; finalist - Mies van der Rohe Award 2022).

Particularly during the IBA Urban Redevelopment and her time at the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation, she and her current office partner and former project partner Detlef Weitz developed comprehensive and innovative ideas for urban scenography, which led to the joint platform chezweitz - Office for museum and urban scenography.

Sonja Beeck has been managing partner of chezweitz since 2013 together with Detlef Weitz, who founded chezweitz in 2000. Their work today includes classic scenography as well as the development of processes, strategies and innovative communication formats. Their work includes feasibility studies such as the one for the IBTA Rheinisches Revier on behalf of Köln-BonnRegio e.V. in collaboration with Büro Wackerl in Cologne, the feasibility study for the museum design of the Goethewohnhaus ensemble or the memorial and learning centre Sanatorium and care centre Erlangen.

• Dipl. Ing. Architecture
• Office manager
• Experienced project and process manager
• Experienced in time and budget controlling

• Master of Arts in Art History; Public Relations Management
• Office management, preparatory accounting, text/proofreading

• Dipl.-Ing. Architecture
• all service phases
• experienced in design, execution, production, object monitoring, content processing
• strong conceptual and design skills

• Dipl.-Ing. Architecture, MA Museum Management and Communication
• Experienced project manager (LPH1-9)
• Strong conceptual and design skills
• Extensive experience in all controlling levels: team management, scheduling, cost control, trades
• Strong communication skills

• Commercial manager
• solution-oriented
• handles complex volumes of figures
• Financial controlling

• Master of Arts (Scenography) and Bachelor of Arts (Communication Design)
• Exhibition graphics from concept to execution

• Master of Science in Architecture
• strong design skills
• strong conceptual skills
• experienced implementation planner
• experienced in interface coordination

• MA Interior Design
• experienced implementation planner
• strong in design
• experienced in interface coordination

• Dipl.-Ing. Architecture
• Experienced, long-standing project manager (LPH1-9)
• Strong conceptual and design skills
• Extensive experience in all controlling levels: team management, scheduling, cost control, trades
• Strong communication skills

• MA Communication Designer/Scenographer
• Experienced graphic designer in all phases of work
• Experienced in communication and interaction
• Conceptually strong and solution-oriented

• Master of Arts in German Studies, Philosophy
• Project development
• Curatorial concepts
• IT administrator and consultant