The studio
Twelve people, one way of looking.
Atelier Lumen was founded in Zürich in 2009 and opened a second studio in Kyoto in 2016. We are architects, interior designers and model makers, and we keep the studio small on purpose.
What we believe
The rarest luxury is not ornament but stillness: a room that asks nothing of you. Each commission begins with the path of the sun across a site, and ends only when light and matter speak with one voice.
Our work spans private residences, retreats and places of contemplation in eleven countries. Every project is led by one of our three founding partners, and every plan is drawn by hand before it is modelled.
We judge a building not by how it photographs, but by how it feels at six in the morning in November, when nobody is watching.
How a house comes into being.
Four stages, the same for a pavilion of 180 square metres as for a gallery of 2,300. None of them is skipped.
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01
Listening to the site
Before we draw anything, we spend a full day on the site, from first light to dusk. We record where the sun rises, where the wind comes from and which view deserves a window.
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02
Drawing by hand
The first plans are drawn in pencil, at the scale of the body. Only when a sketch holds up on paper do we move it to the computer.
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03
Models in plaster and timber
Every project passes through our model workshop. We study the light on physical models at the same hours and seasons as on the site.
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04
Building with makers
We work with the same stonemasons, joiners and plasterers for years. A partner visits the site every week until the last door closes flush.
Founding partners
Three partners, three temperaments. Every commission is led by one of them from the first letter to the handover.
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Elena Marchetti
Founding partner, Zürich
Leads residences and interiors in stone and lime. Casa Aurea and Maison Calcaire.
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Haruki Mori
Founding partner, Kyoto
Leads contemplative and cultural spaces. The Pavilion of Stillness and Atrium Nord.
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Jonas Aebi
Founding partner, Zürich
Leads houses in timber and earth. Lantern House and Casa Celosía.
Two studios, half a world apart.
When the Kyoto studio closes in the evening, the morning in Zürich is still young. Drawings travel between the two studios every day, so a project never quite sleeps.
Zürich
Musterstrasse 428000 Zürich, Switzerland
Kyoto
Mihon‑chō 18600‑0000 Kyoto, Japan