Monolith Studio — Est. 2011

45.4642° N
9.1900° E
ARCHIVE No. 118

ARCHITECTURE WITHOUT APOLOGY.

We design buildings that refuse to hide their structure. Mass, load, and material — stated plainly, in raw concrete and hard light.

SCROLL

Structural Study

01MASS

02VOID

03CANTILEVER

04ASSEMBLY

MASS

Every form begins as raw volume — undivided, unornamented weight set against the sky.

Selected Works — 2019 / 2024

Projects

06 / SIX

Cantilever House

Big Sur, California
Residential — 2023

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Cantilevered brutalist concrete residence over a plaza, hard side light, black and white.

Board-formed concrete / steel

The Atrium

Rotterdam, Netherlands
Cultural — 2022

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Double-height concrete atrium with a hard diagonal shaft of skylight, black and white.

Cast concrete / skylight void

Vertical Mass

Osaka, Japan
Office Tower — 2024

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Brutalist concrete tower viewed from directly below, converging vertical lines, black and white.

Precast grid / 34 storeys

Concrete Quarter

Lyon, France
Housing — 2021

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Modular stacked brutalist housing complex, repeating concrete volumes, black and white.

Modular precast / 84 units

Study No. 14

Internal Research
Massing Study — 2023

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Physical white study model of a stepped brutalist building massing, hard studio light, black and white.

Gypsum model / 1:200

The Threshold

Zurich, Switzerland
Civic — 2020

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Sculptural raw concrete staircase with strong geometric shadow patterns, black and white.

Sculpted concrete / civic access

Studio Philosophy

The Studio

§ 02

We do not decorate structure. We reveal it. Every wall we pour tells you exactly what it is holding up.

Close-up of raw board-formed concrete texture with visible formwork grain, black and white. — Fig. 01 — Board-formed concrete, tie-rod detail

Monolith Studio was founded on a single refusal: to hide how a building stands up. Concrete is left raw. Joints are left visible. Load paths are left legible, from foundation to roofline.

This is not minimalism for its own sake. It is a belief that honesty in material is a form of respect — for the site, for the budget, for the people who will occupy the space for the next hundred years.

We work in mass and void, never in surface. If it isn't structural, it isn't in the drawing.

STRUCTURE — MATERIAL — VOID — MASS — LIGHT — LOAD — STRUCTURE — MATERIAL — VOID — MASS — LIGHT — LOAD — STRUCTURE — MATERIAL — VOID — MASS — LIGHT — LOAD — STRUCTURE — MATERIAL — VOID — MASS — LIGHT — LOAD —

How We Work

Process

04 STAGES

Site & Load

We read the site before we read the brief — topography, sun path, soil, and the loads the ground can actually carry.

Mass & Void

Volumes are blocked in gypsum and foam before a single elevation is drawn. If it doesn't work as a model, it doesn't work.

Material Truth

One primary material, stated plainly. Concrete mix, formwork pattern, and finish are chosen as carefully as the plan.

Construction

We stay on site through the pour. A detail that isn't buildable on-budget was never a real detail.

The Studio

Roster

14 PRINCIPALS

Anna KovačFounding PrincipalZurich

David OyelaranDirector of StructureRotterdam

Mira ThalerHead of MaterialsZurich

Jonas ReberProject ArchitectLyon

Sena WatanabeProject ArchitectOsaka

LET'S BUILD.

Studio

Sihlquai 131
8005 Zurich
Switzerland

Contact hello@monolith.studio +41 44 000 00 00

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