Marga Schoeller looks to German-American architect for new location

By Ward Sutlive

BERLIN, Germany – When Marga Schoeller management determined to change locations for only the third time in the storied shop’s 100-year history, CEO Stefan Liebermann knew to whom to turn.

Architect Jason Danziger, a native of New Jersey who grew up in Massachusetts, has been a longtime friend of Liebermann’s. When asked in 2024 to design the prestigious bookstore’s new, smaller footprint at Knesebeckstraße 27, he said he jumped at the chance.

“For architects, it’s rare to have a project where there’s a cultural significance,” said Danziger, a graduate of the University of Massachusetts Amherst and MIT. “It’s a really wonderful kind of project.

Danziger said he made sure to focus on maintaining the authenticity and continuity of Marga Schoeller. Taking a cue from the second store location’s architects, Danziger preserves the sage green bookshelves that were a hallmark of the previous two store locations. He transported the old shelves to the back of the new shop and reinforced them.

“My work was trying to understand this history, [and] working with Stefan to understand better his vision of what he thinks a bookshop should be like in order to be culturally relevant in 2025,” Danziger said.

Danziger also created new chandeliers which repurposed lighting fixtures and even old wooden shelves from the 1970’s store at its previous location. He compared his design of the new chandeliers to lilies in freefall.

The new location opened in November 2025.

“I’m proud of the project, and honored to have worked with Stefan on it,” said Danziger, winner of the 2015 BDA Berlin Prize for architecture. “I think he’s an amazing guy, and I hope that this bookshop can last another 100 years.”

Danziger founded thinkbuild architecture in 1999. According to the firm’s website, its work is “rooted in user-centered and conceptually driven design” and purposed to create “environments that support play, work, learning, interaction, recreation, and healing.”

Thinkbuild specializes in early childhood educational spaces, spatial color design, custom lighting, furniture design, adaptive reconstruction and, more recently, retail environments such as Marga Schoeller.

Jason Danziger founded thinkbuild architecture in Brooklyn, New York, and relocated to Berlin in 2000 to teach at the Technical University of Berlin.

Update: The story has been updated to correct minor errors of fact. September 2, 2026 at 7:19pm.