Forty-two people. One drawing table.

Philosophy

We stay small on purpose. At forty-two people, we are large enough to build a library and small enough to know every junction in it by name. The partner who draws the first line is still on site when the last stone is set.

• Site before style.

  We don’t arrive with a signature. We arrive with a survey, and the building grows out of the ground it stands on.

• Build once. Build well.

  The most sustainable building is the one nobody needs to replace. We choose materials that age into their beauty.

• Leave room for light.

  Light costs nothing and changes everything. We design the rooms around it first, and the walls second.

• Astrid Halden

  Founding Partner · Istanbul

  Trained at the Royal Danish Academy. Leads every project from first sketch to handover, and still draws the first plan by hand.

• Karim Voss

  Founding Partner · Istanbul

  Co-founded the studio in 2004. Twenty years designing buildings for extreme climates, from the Arctic to the Empty Quarter.

• Lina Haddad

  Partner · Istanbul

  Led Qasr Al Nour and Atlas Desert Lodge. Writes and teaches on shade as the first material of Gulf architecture.

• Mikkel Brandt

  Director of Technical Design · Istanbul

  Responsible for every junction, specification and site review. Believes a building is only as good as its worst detail.

• Noor Al-Sayed

  Head of Landscape · Istanbul

  Landscape architect behind The Quarry Garden and Wadi Terraces. Plants for the century, not the opening.

• Jonas Ek

  Head of Sustainability · Istanbul

  Runs whole-life carbon studies on every project and leads the studio’s timber and rammed-earth research.