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Studio
Fourteen people in one room on Klybeckstrasse. No second office, no satellite, no plans for either.
We would rather repeat a good detail than invent a bad one.
The practice was set up in 2011 to build in Switzerland at ordinary budgets, which is harder than it sounds and less photogenic than it should be. Our first commission was a kiosk. Our largest so far is thirty-two dwellings on contaminated ground.
We do not have a house style, we have a house method. Survey the site until something in it refuses to move. Design against that thing. Detail so that the building can be taken apart by whoever is left.
Every project is drawn by the two partners at 1:20 before anyone touches a model. It slows the first six weeks and saves the last six months.
Nils Aebersold
Partner, since 2011 / Construction, procurement
Trained as a mason before studying at ETH Zurich. Ten years at a contractor's technical office, which is where the practice learned what a drawing costs to build.
Rea Frangoulis
Partner, since 2011 / Design, competitions
Studied at the AA and in Athens. Runs every competition entry and teaches one day a week at FHNW. Wrote the studio note above and refuses to update it.
Twelve others
Architects, technicians, one model maker
Named in every publication credit and on every set of drawings. We do not keep a staff page because people leave and the buildings do not.
Selected recognition
| 2026 | Auszeichnung Guter Bauten, Basel-Stadt |
|---|---|
| 2025 | DAM Preis, nomination |
| 2024 | Prix Lignum, Ticino, silver |
| 2023 | Rotterdam Architectuurprijs, shortlist |
| 2022 | Mies van der Rohe Award, nomination |
| 2021 | Tectonica Prize, earth construction |
Teaching and writing
| 2019— | FHNW Muttenz, design studio |
|---|---|
| 2023 | "One Cut", Silo 4 monograph, Park Books |
| 2021 | "Earth at 22 Lifts", Werk, Bauen + Wohnen |
Survey first
Two weeks on site before a line is drawn. Measured, photographed, dug.
Use what is there
Demolition is a material store. Six projects reused their own.
One idea per building
If it takes two sentences to explain, it is two buildings.
Detail for removal
Bolted before glued. Nothing we build should need a demolition permit.
Send a site, a budget, and the deadline. In that order.
| Office | Klybeckstrasse 141, 4057 Basel, CH |
|---|---|
| Telephone | +41 61 271 04 08 |
| Hours | Mon to Thu, 08:30 to 18:00 |
| Enquiries | Answered within 14 days |
| Capacity | 3 to 4 commissions per year |