Team

CEO and Founding Partner, INNOCAD

Architect Martin Lesjak co-founded INNOCAD architecture in 1999 and has since completed numerous projects of diverse sizes and scopes in architecture and interior design such as residential, office, hospitality, healthcare, mixed-use, educational, public, and retail.

His transdisciplinary team is renowned for their “out of the box” thinking and their analytical and pragmatic approach to architecture and design by creating solutions with purpose and meaning. Lesjak´ s foresight and expertise in architecture, design, and craft – as well as an affinity for art – has guided his firms in innovative directions.

Together with partners, he leads multifaceted international projects combining creativity without boundaries. In 2013, he founded with Dr. med. univ. Anastasija Lesjak the product design studio 13&9 Design. The team works for international companies developing product collections, while also operating as a label producing their own products with small-scale manufacturers.

Pursuing design strategies that are based on the scientifically well-founded analysis of stressreducing concepts in the built environment, 13&9 formed the ScienceDesignLab with leading scientist and physicist, Professor Dr. Richard Taylor from the University of Oregon and Fractals Research Laboratory (USA).

Lesjak received one of the architecture and design community’s top honors, “Designer of the Year 2015” by Contract Magazine in the United States, followed by “Architect of the Year 2016” by BUILD Magazine in the United Kingdom.

COO and Founding Partner, INNOCAD

In 1999, Peter Schwaiger established INNOCAD in Graz together with Martin Lesjak, and

in 2006 he founded the development company, Golden Nugget Projektentwicklung GMBH which provides INNOCAD self-funded projects.

If Lesjak is the firm’s soul, Schwaiger is the team captain, keeping the team focused and remaining on the right course. As the other founding partner, his role as COO is managing all business and logistics for the organization. Firm, dependable, optimistic, pragmatic and always accessible, he fosters INNOCAD’s business relationships most notably their recent expansion into the Middle East. The firm is well-balanced between the two leaders of the firm, Lesjak and Schwaiger, due to their long history, mutual respect, and personal admiration for one another.

Like Lesjak, Schwaiger knew early on as a small child that he would build houses some day. Since his years at university where he graduated with a Master of Science in Architecture, and with

INNOCAD he has realized more then 50 projects – more then he could have ever imagined as a child growing up on a farm.

Today, Schwaiger juggles his work at INNOCAD and Golden Nugget with a rich personal life. He gets immense joy from his two children and his life partner who also studied architecture and is a lighting designer.

If he is not in the office or with his beloved family, you can find him on the football field meeting friends for their regular game of soccer. In addition to seeing the firm expand to global locations, he also aspires to play a key role in the development of a significant skyscraper.

Partner, INNOCAD

Patrick Handler studied architecture at the Graz University of Technology where he graduated with a Master of Science in Architecture. After graduating, Handler worked in various creative fields, including the production of art installations and filmmaking. He began his architecture career in 1995, and after working with several architecture offices in Graz, joined INNOCAD in 2005. Since the completion of his first project, AM KAI, Handler has managed various projects, C&P Corporate Headquarters and History Museum Graz being two of the most noteworthy. Residential programs are a specialty of Handler’s, having successfully completed C34, FLUR 20, and US Brockmangasse. Additionally, he is well-versed in the hospitality sector, having won the competition for the new IBIS Agora concept to be implemented in hotels throughout Europe one of which has already been completed in Barcelona and another one in Paris. As a project manager, Handler has significant technical abilities, and displays them particularly when advising the execution team during project implementation and installation. He has an aptitude for completing projects according to the design vision, ensuring plans materialize into reality during the building process.

In 2012, he became a partner at INNOCAD.

Partner, INNOCAD

Oliver Kupfner studied architecture at the Graz University of Technology, where he graduated with a Master of Science in Architecture. From 1995 to 1998, he worked at various architecture firms in Graz until he landed at architect Heinz Wondra’s office. He stayed there for ten years and gained important experience until joining the INNOCAD team in 2008.

Kupfner’s role with the firm is one of international significance, managing projects in the Middle East and all over Europe. He was the project leader on TWA The World Academy – King Abdullah Economic City in Saudi Arabia and Volksbank’s South Tyrol Headquarters in Bolzano. He delivered three different office headquarters in Vienna with Microsoft, ÖBB, and SAP. Additionally, Oliver was in charge of the conversion and redevelopment of the Graz Armoury museum, and the extension of a neurological clinic at LKH Feldbach. The ROCK, the first Radisson Red in a German-speaking region, as well as the new competence Center for MAM Health & Innovation was completed also under his direction.

He is a key communicator within the studio, acting as a connecting link between the client, design team, and execution team. In addition to networking, traveling, and lecturing, Oliver is an expert manager of project organization, timelines, and budgets. He is driven by bringing ideas into reality, as well as the various challenges and architectural innovation required during that process.

In 2013, he became partner at INNOCAD.

Partner, INNOCAD

Jörg Kindermann completed his Master of Science in Architecture at Graz University of Technology after time as a journeyman carpenter. In 2001, and self-employed, he ventured to work in the fields of architecture and mediation of architecture.  Around the same time, he began teaching at Graz University of Technology at the Institute for Residential Building before joining INNOCAD in 2007. Kindermann is the head designer of the interiors team, where his main focus lies. Concept design based on project research is key for him, where he pays specific attention to implementing the holistic, user-centered approach of the firm. He has a talent for balancing aesthetic beauty with functionality, specifically when it comes to office interiors. In addition to being involved with almost every project at INNOCAD, Jörg has been a designer for Austrian label 13&9 Design since its formation in 2013.

In 2014, he became a partner at INNOCAD.

Partner, INNOCAD

In 2023, she became a partner at INNOCAD.

Co-Founder 13&9 Design GmbH and ScienceDesignLab