ABOUT_ PHilIPP KIRNBAUER
Hospitality Design · Placemaking · Strategic Foresight
Philipp Kirnbauer is a design strategist and hospitality visionary with over 25 years of experience reimagining how spaces shape culture, connection, and collaboration. He works at the intersection of hospitality, real estate, workplace design, and culture, helping organisations turn physical environments into strategic tools for human flourishing.
His work spans corporate restaurants, business lounges, hotels, learning environments, and hybrid third places, serving global clients such as Apple, Siemens, the United Nations, Compass Group, and EHL Hospitality Business School.
Philipp is known for re-engineering spaces not only aesthetically, but also operationally and socially — aligning architecture, interior design, business models, and human experience.
At the core of his approach is a clear belief:
Hospitality is not a service — it is a mindset.
Philipp Kirnbauer
Designing RESONANCE , Not Just Spaces
Rather than focusing on form alone, Philipp designs the conditions under which culture happens. His work explores how environments influence behavior, attention, collaboration, and serendipitous encounters. Drawing on neuroaesthetics, behavioral science, service design, and real-world prototyping, he helps organisations unlock the hidden potential of their spaces.
This philosophy has led to the development of a proprietary playbook — refined over decades — that connects insight to impact, ensuring that investments in real estate and hospitality generate long-term cultural and economic value.
#SWNXT & BRAVE NEW SPACE
Philipp is the founder of SHAPE WHATS NEXT, a strategic platform guiding organisations from insight to impact through curated journeys, prototypes, and foresight dialogues.
He is also the initiator of BRAVE NEW SPACE, a research-driven dialogue developed in collaboration with institutions such as UCL PEARL and HSLU Lucerne. The initiative explores how the built environment can move beyond being a container for activity — and become a strategic tool for human connection, wellbeing, and cultural transformation.
A central idea in his work:
Serendipity is strategic.
A Bridge Between Culture and Business
Philipp operates fluently between creative intuition and commercial reality. He works closely with C-level executives, designers, architects, and operators to translate cultural ambition into measurable impact, scalable concepts, and viable business models.
His projects often act as living prototypes — testing new forms of hospitality, learning, and collaboration under real operational conditions.
Based in Europe. CONNECTING Globally.
Based in Europe, Philipp Kirnbauer works internationally across hospitality, corporate real estate, education, and urban development. His work is shaped by a deep conviction that better environments create better outcomes — for people and for organisations.
