The entrance to Höhenweg 12.

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ORIEL · ZURICH AND VIENNA · SINCE 2011

Seventeen buildings. One architect.

We buy the sites that are difficult for a reason we can explain, and we build fewer of them than we could.

See what is availableRegister interest

17

Developments completed

143

Residences sold since 2011

11

Weeks to sell out Enge Belvedere

2024

Swiss Property Award, residential

Origin · 2011 · Zurich

Two of us, one plot, and a bank that said no.

Oriel began with a corner plot in Enge that three developers had walked away from, because the only way to get real light into it was to give up four apartments. We gave up the four apartments.

Fifteen years later we still buy the sites that are difficult for the same reason, and we still refuse the same trade. Seventeen buildings, one architect, and not one project we have had to explain away since.

We work in Zurich and Vienna because they are the two cities where we know which streets are quiet in August and which are not.

What we hold to

We build the window before the wall.

An oriel leaves the wall and takes the room with it. It is a structural nuisance, it costs more, and it is the only reason a north-facing room is worth having. Every decision below is downstream of that one.

  1. One

    Light before layout

    The section is drawn first, against real February sun angles. Rooms are fitted to the light rather than the light borrowed back for a plan that was already finished.

  2. Two

    Fewer, and slower

    Two buildings at a time. A development we cannot walk weekly is one we cannot stand behind on the day we hand over the keys.

  3. Three

    Plain about what is left

    Reserved says reserved and stays on the page. A building that is half sold is a building people wanted.

The practice · nine people, three of whom sign

You will meet whoever drew it.

  • Marta Keller

    Founding partner · development

    Buys the sites and signs every reservation contract. Twenty-two years, the last fifteen here.

    Ask for Marta

  • Tobias Arnold

    Founding partner · design

    Draws every section himself. Has refused four sites on light alone.

    Ask for Tobias

  • Katrin Vogt

    Sales · Zurich

    Answers the enquiries. Will tell you when a residence is wrong for you.

    Ask for Katrin

Recognition

Judged by people who have to live in it.

Awards

  • 2024Swiss Property Award, residential — Enge Belvedere
  • 2023Zürcher Bauherrenpreis, shortlist — Seefeld Terrassen
  • 2022Best in category, Häuser Award — Weinbergpark

In print

  • HochparterreMarch 2025

    The staircase at Enge Belvedere is the most expensive thing in the building and the only one nobody paid extra for.

  • Neue Zürcher ZeitungNovember 2024

    A developer that publishes what is left is, at minimum, telling you something the others are not.

We came to see it in November, when the light here is at its worst. That was the point. It was still full of it.
M. Brauerbought at Seefeld Terrassen, 2024

Where we are

Zurich

Head office

Seefeldstrasse 214
8008 Zürich

+41 44 000 00 00

Vienna

Studio

Lange Gasse 41
1080 Wien

+43 1 000 00 00

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