01 / 07ResidentialLisbon, Portugal2024
Kiln House
A courtyard house built from reclaimed brick, arranged around a single lime tree that predates the street.
Architecture studioEst. 2012Bengaluru & worldwide
Architectureforged withintent.
Arcsmith designs houses, cultural buildings, workplaces and whole neighbourhoods, and stays on site until the last stone is set.
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01 — The studio
Arcsmith is a studio of architects, engineers and makers. We believe a building should be forged from its place: shaped by the light it receives, the material to hand and the people who will keep it. Our work spans a single room and a city block, and every project is drawn, prototyped and supervised by the same team from first sketch to final inspection.
120+
Projects delivered
14
Years in practice
32
Awards and shortlists
9
Countries
02Selected work
Buildings we put our name to
02 / 07CommercialSingapore, Singapore2023
Meridian Tower
A 32-storey workplace tower whose double skin of perforated aluminium opens and closes with the sun.
03 / 07CulturalOslo, Norway2022
Halden Public Library
A timber reading room stacked above a covered market hall, won in open competition.
04 / 07CulturalKyoto, Japan2024
Ember Pavilion
A charred-cedar tea pavilion for the craft biennale, assembled without a single mechanical fixing.
05 / 07UrbanManchester, United Kingdom2026
Foundry Quarter
A masterplan for a former ironworks: 1,400 homes, a school and a linear park along a daylighted river.
06 / 07ResidentialAuckland, New Zealand2023
Tidewater House
A house on a tidal inlet that stands on eleven legs and lets the water pass beneath it twice a day.
07 / 07CulturalMumbai, India2025
Vessel Gallery
A gallery for contemporary ceramics hollowed out of a former grain warehouse in Ballard Estate.
03What we do
Five disciplines, one team
- 01ArchitectureNew buildings from first sketch to final inspection, for private clients, institutions and developers.
- 02Interior DesignInteriors that belong to their building: joinery, lighting, furniture and finishes designed as one.
- 03Urban DesignMasterplans and public realm that give a neighbourhood its spine before the first building rises.
- 04LandscapeGardens, courtyards, pools and terrain designed with the building, never after it.
- 05Heritage & ReuseNew life for old structures: listed buildings, warehouses, factories and the spaces between them.
ResidentialCulturalCommercialUrbanInteriorsLandscapeHeritage
04The studio
A workshop first, an office second
We work from a former kiln works on Foundry Street. Downstairs is a workshop where joints are cut, bricks are tested and every detail is built once before it is built for real. Upstairs, fourteen architects, engineers and makers share one long table.
- 01
Place before plan
We measure the tree before the plot. Site, climate and neighbours set the rules; the building follows.
- 02
Material honesty
Brick looks like brick and timber is allowed to weather. We specify what we would put our own name to.
- 03
Built to be kept
Passive first, mechanical last, and every new part designed so that it could be taken down again.
21 Foundry Street, the workshop floorFig. 04
05How we work
Four stages, no surprises
01
Listen
Brief, site and budget, in that order. We walk the site with you before we draw a line, and we write the brief together.
02
Draft
Concept options on trace and in the model. Two or three directions, tested against light, cost and planning, until one earns its keep.
03
Forge
Technical design, prototypes in the workshop, and a tender package detailed enough that the builder's questions are few.
04
Deliver
Weekly site presence through construction, a handover you can read, and a visit one year on to learn what we got right.
06In their words
“They measured the tree before they measured the plot. Everything about the house follows from that decision, and we live in it every day.”
Sofia and Rui Almeida
Clients, Kiln House
“Arcsmith delivered a tower that our tenants talk about. The sky gardens are always full, and the energy numbers are the best in our portfolio.”
Daniel Chua
Development Director, Meridian Holdings
“The library tripled our footfall. Most visitors never borrow a book. That was the point, and they understood it before we did.”
Kari Solberg
Head of Culture, Halden Municipality
