Legible
01You can read how it stands up and where the light comes from.
We leave structure visible and keep details few.
Studio
EST. 2011
We make buildings that explain themselves.
- FOUNDED 2011
- PEOPLE 31
- OFFICES 3
- PARTNERS Solheim, Carvalho
A good building can be read. Stand in it and you can tell what holds the roof up, where the daylight comes from and what the walls are made of. Nothing has to be explained, because nothing has been hidden.
We started in 2011 with two desks in a boat builder's shed. Fourteen years on we are 31 people in three cities, and the method has not changed: measure the site, draw the section, build the model, then argue about it.
Architecture, interiors and landscape sit at the same tables and work on the same drawings. One small team stays with a project from the first visit to the last snag, so the person who drew a detail is the person who checks it on site.
01History
2011–2025
01/05
2011 · Leeward Cabin
Two desks in a boat shed
Ingrid Solheim and Mateus Carvalho leave a large practice and rent the back of a boat builder's shed in Copenhagen. The first commission is a sauna.
- 01/05
2011 · Leeward Cabin
Two desks in a boat shed
Ingrid Solheim and Mateus Carvalho leave a large practice and rent the back of a boat builder's shed in Copenhagen. The first commission is a sauna.
- 02/05
2015 · Courtyard No. 9
The first public building
A competition win for a village library brings the studio to nine people and its first work outside Denmark.
- 03/05
2019 · Fornalha House
Porto
Mateus opens the Porto office to run Fornalha House and stays. Landscape becomes an in-house discipline the same year.
- 04/05
2023 · Fonderie Nord Offices
Montréal, and timber at scale
Fonderie Nord completes: four storeys of exposed timber frame. A third office opens to deliver the next two Canadian projects.
- 05/05
2025 · Nine Lights Library
Nine Lights
The Nine Lights Library opens on the Aarhus quay and wins the Nordic Public Building Prize.
02Process
Five stages, one team
Fees are fixed per stage and agreed before each one starts.
- 01
Brief
2–4 weeks
We write the brief with you: what the building must do, what it can cost and when it is needed.
- 02
Survey
1–3 weeks
Measured survey, ground investigation and a study of light and neighbours.
- 03
Concept
6–10 weeks
Two or three options in plan, section and model, costed in outline.
- 04
Technical
3–6 months
Permits, coordinated drawings and a specification a contractor can price.
- 05
Site
Until handover
Weekly inspections, monthly valuations and a snag list we close ourselves.
03Values
Durable
02Materials that are repaired, not replaced.
Brick, timber, stone and lime. They age in ways people like.
Measured
03Carbon and cost are counted at every stage.
Both numbers go in the stage report, next to the drawings.
Local
04We build with what is near the site.
The quarry, the sawmill and the workshop down the road come first.
04In numbers
2011–2026
- Years in practice01
- 14
- Projects built02
- 86
- People in three offices03
- 31
- Awards and commendations04
- 23
05Awards and press
Recognition
Awards
- 2025Nordic Public Building PrizeNine Lights LibraryWinner
- 2024Iberian Brick AwardFornalha HouseWinner
- 2024Laurentian Timber PrizeFonderie Nord OfficesCommended
- 2022Northern Landscape MedalLarch PavilionWinner
- 2021Nordic Cabin PrizeLeeward CabinShortlisted
Press
- 2025“A library with no corridors”Quay Review, no. 41Feature
- 2024“Building around a kiln”Casa & ObraFeature
- 2023“Timber at four storeys”Frame & SpanInterview
- 2022“What a gravel pit can become”Terræn QuarterlyEssay
06Team
[08] of 31
The people who draw
Partners, associates and leads. Everyone here still draws.
07Offices
[03]
Copenhagen
Kajgade 14, 2. sal, 1432 Copenhagen K
Porto
Rua do Estaleiro 220, 4050-112 Porto
Montréal
88 rue de la Fonderie, bureau 3, Montréal QC H3C 0A1
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