The Spanish architect Javier Müller has managed his office in Geneva since 2017. His striving for radical reduction is manifested in timeless architecture that fully exploits its social potential. Subtle measures and the economic application of means creates uncontrived architecture in which the form entirely serves the function and its users’ quality of life. One example of such abstraction through rationalisation is the conversion of Duplex B in Bernex. Liberated from all unnecessary elements, this timeless architecture is exclusively defined by geometry, light and spatial proportions. Text in English and German.

Originally from Chicago, Ryan W. Kennihan has been working in Dublin since 2007 and has taught at various universities. His architecture is reserved, peaceful and elegant. Each building is a little gem, where every detail reflects the architecture. For instance the Vita Family Center in Roscommon assumes the volume and appearance of the surrounding traditional buildings, while varying the details in an astute and subtle way. Text in English and German.

Carlos Martinez has been running his architectural office in Berneck (Switzerland) for over 30 years. He made a name for himself through his collaboration with Pipilotti Rist entitled “roter Teppich von St. Gallen� (“red carpet of St. Gallen�), a wonderful urban-planning intervention that brings together the formerly haphazard conglomerate of remnant spaces and transport functions to create a homogeneous, identity-strengthening unity. His great energy and inventive engagement with the urban-planning context and its existing structures have led to numerous architectural projects that integrate themselves as powerful figures in the urban context and landscape. Text in English and German.

Choi Wook is the founder and protagonist of the One O One office in Seoul, South Korea. Since 2000, he has been creating a number of architectural gems year after year that show clear affinities to Korean architectural traditions as well as to European architecture. Craftsmanship, precision in detail, material authenticity and impressive spatial creations are just some of the remarkable attributes of the 13 projects presented here. Text in English and German.

Choi Wook is the founder and protagonist of the One O One office in Seoul, South Korea. Since 2000, he has been creating a number of architectural gems year after year that show clear affinities to Korean architectural traditions as well as to European architecture. Craftsmanship, precision in detail, material authenticity and impressive spatial creations are just some of the remarkable attributes of the 13 projects presented here. Text in English and Korean.

The former Bernarda teacher training college in Menzingen was built between 1955 and 1958 by the two renowned Zug architectural teams of Hanns A. Brütsch and Alois Stadler, and Leo Hafner and Alfons Wiederkehr. The school on a gentle slope in the midst of the attractive landscape between Lake Zug and Lake Zurich is an exceptional example of 1950s Swiss architecture. The facility impresses with its staging of the exposed location, the coherent arrangement of five highly individualised buildings around a circular centre, and the notable design of the open spaces by Ernst Kramer. Between 2017 and 2019, the facility was renovated and extended in exemplary fashion by the Zurich architectural team Bünzli & Courvoisier. On the one hand, the project is strongly orientated towards the urban-planning and architectural design principles of the existing building. On the other, the architects develop the existing structures further like a collage, thereby giving the school a respectfully staged, extended dramatic quality. The volume extensively reflects upon and documents in detail the school's exciting, exemplary renovation. Features articles by Andrea Burkhard, Christian Hönger, Gerold Kunz, Arthur Rüegg, Urs Stahel, and Günther Vogt. Text in English and German.

Timothée Giorgis founded his office in Geneva in 2007 and was joined by Juan Rodriguez in 2015. Since then, a remarkable number of residential buildings and refurbishments have been completed, including a major facility with a municipal and school building in Satigny near Geneva. It is carefully embedded in the landscape with a calm gesture. The reserved developments reveal a refined, detailed architectural language. Text in English and German.

The Swiss Melanie Stocker and the South Korean Dong Joon Lee have been running their Studio d'architettura in Mendrisio since 2005. Over time they have created some remarkable, carefully developed buildings in Ticino and South Korea, such as the Ca'Ospiti apartment building in Rancate, whose structure appears like a reduced archetype that houses five cleverly-nested flats inside; or the equally stringent and minimalist Godung residential and commercial building near Seoul: in brick and exposed concrete, it also contains intelligently-nested rooms within itself. Text in English and German.

For Zurich architect Stefan Wülser, architecture is not reduced to the craft of designing and implementing the design, but also involves thinking about its socio-cultural significance in contemporary society. With the house in Bassersdorf, for example, he developed a programmatic building that rises above an existing supporting structure in a direct, bricollage-like construction that is gestural and expressive. Text in English and German.

Timothée Giorgis founded his office in Geneva in 2007 and was joined by Juan Rodriguez in 2015. Since then, a remarkable number of residential buildings and refurbishments have been completed, including a major facility with a municipal and school building in Satigny near Geneva. It is carefully embedded in the landscape with a calm gesture. The reserved developments reveal a refined, detailed architectural language. Text in Spanish and French.

In 2006, Anne Marie Wagner and Cedric Bachelard, with their Francophone and Western Swiss roots, founded their office in Basel. Since then, they have produced extremely high-quality buildings and residential developments. The new Mattenhof housing estate in Zurich-Schwamendingen is a particularly impressive example, its basic form consisting of an enormous meandering progression that creates elongated inner courtyards. Text in English, French and German.

Since 2010, Marcel Baumgartner has worked in his Zurich office on projects with a wide range of tasks and scales, including prolific competition participation. In 2020, Claudia Loewe joined him, co-founding the company Baumgartner Loewe Architekten in 2022. Their design stance is characterised by committed engagement with current building tasks and respect for existing architectural structures. For example, in the case of the extension to Röhrliberg School in Cham, they assumed the historical grid, while carefully selecting materials and colours to ensure an impressive, harmonious synthesis of old and new elements. Text in English and German.

Jo Berben, Ingrid Mees and Luc Vanmuyssen are the founders of the Belgian architectural team a2o, with offices in Brussels and Hasselt. Their buildings are powerfully and inventively integrated into the mostly urban environment. Their forms and details are reduced, creating a meditative atmosphere. De aedibus international is a series on contemporary, highly qualified European architects and architecture; an archive of carefully selected buildings and projects. Text in English and German.

Tom Munz established his St. Gallen office in 2013. Since then, he has produced a number of extremely high-quality buildings that are always developed with a special interest in structural and tectonic expression. For instance Wohnhaus Holzenstein in Romanshorn is a design inspired by Modernism, thriving on the interaction between reserved, beige-stained concrete wall surfaces and wooden window elements to achieve an extremely poetic radiance. Text in English and German.

In 2015, a volume in the Anthologie series was published on the buildings by this Lucerne architect, who is originally from the Upper Valais region. Since then, many further projects and an impressive number of new buildings have followed. They all demonstrate a respectful, gentle further development of the settlements and locations. The Kronengasse building in Sempach is exemplary: in it, the architect seeks a connection between traditional anonymous construction and a sophisticated finesse in designing the building. Text in English and German.

The twin sisters Selma Mikou and Salwa Mikou founded their own Paris office in 2006 - after working for many years for Jean Nouvel and Renzo Piano. Each project primarily aims to liberate itself from preconceived forms in order to create original solutions that focus on the dimension of an emotional spatial experience. The architects have produced numerous prominent buildings in this way, including the Balsaneo Aquatics Center in Chateauroux (2021), which was developed as a dynamic figure that spans the boulevard like a bridge to overlook the unique landscape of the Indre region. Text in English and German.

Nomos is an association of architects based in Geneva, Lisbon and Madrid. They collaborate on projects of all scales, from furniture to master plans, with a special focus on the cultural context and the environment. Primarily using drawing to shape their ideas, they explore new ways of creating community through buildings that seek to transform constraints into opportunities. They approach each project with enthusiasm, care and curiosity, always striving for sustainable beauty. Text in English and German.

Benedikt Rigling, René Bosshard and Matthias Baumann are the founders of Masswerk Architekten, which has been based in Lucerne since 2003 and in Zurich since 2008. In addition to residential buildings, a number of public buildings have been created over the years – in particular school buildings, retirement centres and municipal facilities – which are characterised by a broad architectural repertoire and meticulous design work. Two residential buildings in the middle of a city park in Lucerne appear sculptural in their reduced structures, with floor plans fitted intelligently and naturally into the building volumes. The Baufeld G complex on Europaallee in Zurich, a significant urban development, inscribes itself unobtrusively in the cityscape with its rhythmic façades. To be completed in 2021, the Burghalde secondary school centre in Baden will accommodate 1,000 pupils in a historic park setting with protected buildings. Text in English and German.

Darlington Meier Architekten operate confidently on a variety of scales – from housing to urban-planning interventions. The Zurich office’s sense of the effect of classic concepts characterises its designs, as do its harmonious use of materials and the goal of creating locations with a specific identity. The architects are clearly influenced by Peter Zumthor, in whose practice they both worked as Project Managers before founding their own office in 2004. Their design for the Mathilde Escher Home for disabled adults in Zurich is an example of confident urban-planning placement that is equally able to ensure an agreeable residential atmosphere. Text in English and German.

Johannes Kister, Reinhard Scheithauer (until 2020) and Susanne Gross have been running their offices in Cologne since 1992 and Leipzig since 2007, as well as recently opening a Berlin branch. The three protagonists have produced remarkable, inspiring buildings, including the major, sculptural facility of the University of Applied Sciences Bremerhaven (2005), which impresses with its solid, haptic materiality. Text in English and German.

Based in Vienna and Munich, AllesWirdGut was founded in 1999 by Andreas Marth, Friedrich Passler, Herwig Spiegl and Christian Waldner. The name is the office’s motto: in addition to high-quality housing, which also offers considerable flexibility and adaptability, the internationally operative office focuses on added social value. For instance, this is evident in the case of the widely appreciated social project magdas Hotel, a meeting place in Vienna. The most renowned projects among the office’s oeuvre of over 70 buildings include the Hanhoopsfeld campus in Hamburg and the Bruckner Tower in Linz, which was completed in 2021. Text in English and German.

The spectrum of the young Baden-based office Kollektiv Marudo ranges from conversion and renovation projects to large housing estates. Its founders Alexander Athanas, Ole Bühlmann and Rafael Zulauf strive to achieve sustainable architecture through the integral observation of each building task, while its innovative character never contradicts tried and trusted approaches. Instead, their architecture unfolds between the coordinates of flexibility, local and use-related specifics, and innovation, representing consistent further developments of existing qualities. One such example is the new Brühl school facility in Solothurn, which was completed in 2022: the collective was founded in 2018 after winning the project competition. Text in English and German.

Martin and Sven Froehlich have passionately pursued the permanence and longevity of forms, images and narratives in architecture since 2000. The result is surprising, strong and memorable architecture that often appears close to conceptual and minimal art. De aedibus international is a series on contemporary, highly qualified European architects and architecture. An archive of carefully selected buildings and projects. Text in English and German.

For each building presented in the volume, Biel architects Ivo Sollberger and Lukas Bögli describe a central idea that aptly symbolises the project, referring to the buildings themselves, which carry a narrative force within them. The rows of seats at the new Stade de la Tuilière in Lausanne, for example, are housed in a mighty gestural shell. And the structure of the Raiffeisenbank in Sonceboz-Sombeval appears as an impressive, dynamically-structured crystalline sculpture. Text in English and German.

Since 1987, Eileen Joy Liebman and Fernando Villavecchia have produced a series of diverse projects from their studio in Barcelona, Spain, with an emphasis on residential architecture and the renovation of historic buildings in a range of rural and urban contexts. Over the years, they have gradually developed an oeuvre with a special "reserve" and with particular and measured attention to spatial expression. Projects include the careful restoration and adaptation of the 1958 Casa Coderch Mila in Cadaques (2017) and the Casa Sant Llorenc (2014) in the mountains of Lerida. Text in English and German.