Studio
The practice
We are small on purpose.
Eleven people is enough to run four projects properly and not enough to run eight badly. It means the partner who wins your project is the one who draws it, defends it at committee, and walks the site with the contractor.
It also means we turn work down. If we cannot give a project a partner and a technical lead for its full duration, we say so at the first meeting rather than the third.
Since 2009
How we got here
2009
Founded
Mara Vestergaard opens the practice with one commission: a rear extension in Hackney that is still standing and still watertight.
2013
First civic project
Tromsø Parish Council appoints us for a chapel above the Arctic Circle. It teaches us everything we now know about envelopes.
2017
Technical standard written
Idris Okonkwo joins as technical partner and writes the detail set the practice still runs on.
2021
Adaptive reuse focus
Meridian Works starts on site. Retention becomes the default position rather than the exception.
2025
Eleven people, four continents of climate data
Passivhaus certification across a 112-home scheme. The office stays the same size.
Team
Who you will actually work with
Mara Vestergaard
Founding Partner
Mara founded the practice in 2009 after a decade detailing timber and concrete hybrids in Copenhagen. She leads design on every project through planning.
Idris Okonkwo
Partner, Technical
Idris runs technical delivery. He wrote the practice’s envelope standard, which is why our buildings still look right after fifteen winters.
Sofia Lund
Associate, Design
Sofia leads concept work and the model shop. She believes a project is not resolved until it can be explained with one section.
Tomas Bregenz
Associate, Delivery
Tomas manages sites and contractors. He has taken eleven of our buildings from first excavation to handover without a single claim.