OSTWERK

section a-a - scale 1:50

+14.20  roof

OSTWERK

We design buildings the way we draw them - in section, floor by floor, from the roof down to the ground they stand on. This page is one continuous cut through the studio.

+9.60 level 03 - the practice

The practice

Ostwerk is a small studio for housing, workplaces and public buildings. Every project here starts as a sectional drawing, because the section is where a building stops posing: it shows how far daylight reaches into the lowest room, how sound travels between floors, and how the structure actually stands.

The studio is nine people - seven architects, one structural engineer, one model maker. We take on six projects a year, never more.

+6.40 level 02 - work

Selected work

Cyanotype print of House Verlat, a brick courtyard house in raking daylight
House Verlat - courtyard house, 2023
Cyanotype print of Kalk Hall, a converted market hall with exposed roof trusses
Kalk Hall - market hall conversion, 2021
Cyanotype print of Two Sisters, a pair of narrow townhouses seen from the street
Two Sisters - paired townhouses, 2024

(6) built works, 2019-2025

  • House Verlat 2023
  • Kalk Hall 2021
  • Two Sisters 2024
  • Waterline Depot 2019
  • Studio Aker 2022
  • Brick Orchard 2025
+3.20 level 01 - approach

Three ways we are commissioned

New buildings

We lead design, permits and site supervision as one continuous commission, so the drawing that wins the permit is the drawing the builder works from.

Conversions

Existing structures carry most of their value already. We cut, reinforce and extend rather than demolish and replace.

Interiors

Rooms, joinery and lighting, planned in the same sectional drawings as the building around them.

±0.00 level 00 - entrance

Work with us

Tell us about your site, your budget and what you want to build. We reply within a week, usually with a first section sketch.

Start a project

clear opening 1.10 m - threshold flush, no step