STUDIO
Everything begins with looking. With intention. Looking until it becomes clear what is truly at stake and where the potential mistake may be hidden.
We bring order to complexity: we define criteria from the beginning, validate them, and guide the process so that critical decisions do not lose their direction along the way.
Mistakes are costly. Our work begins there: before the mistake takes shape.
Method
Each project begins with a precise analysis of the whole: context, conditions, program, constraints, and critical variables. To that we add the client’s goals and the studio’s perspective, until we find the criterion that structures everything else.
We work at every scale simultaneously: from detail to extended territory, and also in reverse, from city to individual. We don’t look for ideas; we look for the real problem. Each project resolves multiple variables at once, spatial, economic, operational, urban, reorganizing existing relationships: value comes not from adding resources, but from reordering them.
We work at every scale simultaneously: from detail to extended territory, and also in reverse, from city to individual. We don’t look for ideas; we look for the real problem. Each project resolves multiple variables at once, spatial, economic, operational, urban, reorganizing existing relationships: value comes not from adding resources, but from reordering them.
Each project begins with a precise analysis of the whole: context, conditions, program, constraints, and critical variables. To that we add the client’s goals and the studio’s perspective, until we find the criterion that structures everything else.
We work at every scale simultaneously: from detail to extended territory, and also in reverse, from city to individual. We don’t look for ideas; we look for the real problem. Each project resolves multiple variables at once, spatial, economic, operational, urban, reorganizing existing relationships: value comes not from adding resources, but from reordering them.
The process relies on models, simulations, tests, and visualizations to verify decisions before they become built work. We work with multidisciplinary teams and integrate specialized consultants from the earliest stages. The client participates by validating criteria, contributing information, and making decisions with clarity.
When the analysis is rigorous and sustained, a decision stops being a preference and becomes the one that can hold the entire project together.
We work at every scale simultaneously: from detail to extended territory, and also in reverse, from city to individual. We don’t look for ideas; we look for the real problem. Each project resolves multiple variables at once, spatial, economic, operational, urban, reorganizing existing relationships: value comes not from adding resources, but from reordering them.
The process relies on models, simulations, tests, and visualizations to verify decisions before they become built work. We work with multidisciplinary teams and integrate specialized consultants from the earliest stages. The client participates by validating criteria, contributing information, and making decisions with clarity.
When the analysis is rigorous and sustained, a decision stops being a preference and becomes the one that can hold the entire project together.
The process relies on models, simulations, tests, and visualizations to verify decisions before they become built work. We work with multidisciplinary teams and integrate specialized consultants from the earliest stages. The client participates by validating criteria, contributing information, and making decisions with clarity.
When analysis is rigorous and sustained, decisions stop being a matter of preference and become the ones capable of supporting the entire project. In 2026, the FADU–UBA design studio that applies this approach received the UIA Award for Innovation in Architectural Education, winning first prize among more than 70 international programs.
The right decision doesn’t just prevent mistakes—it creates projects that deliver more than they originally promised..
When analysis is rigorous and sustained, decisions stop being a matter of preference and become the ones capable of supporting the entire project. In 2026, the FADU–UBA design studio that applies this approach received the UIA Award for Innovation in Architectural Education, winning first prize among more than 70 international programs.
The right decision doesn’t just prevent mistakes—it creates projects that deliver more than they originally promised..
The entry point depends on where the real problem lies.
MICRO
MACRO
←→
Detail
Building
Block
City
Territory
01
ANALYSIS
Context
Critical variables
Client aspirations
Existing conditions
Program
Restrictions
02
ITERATION
Models & simulations
Multidisciplinary teams
Validation with the client
Visualizations
Tests
03
DECISION
The inevitable decision:
The principle that guides
everything else
everything else
The process is iterative: each validation may trigger further analysis until the right decision becomes inevitable.
EXPERTISE
We work in architecture, urban design, and landscape architecture, at every scale: from object to territory. We develop projects for public and private clients, from master plans and public spaces to buildings and homes, in both urban and natural contexts.
At every scale, the method is the same: find the decision that orders everything else before drawing a single line.
Masterplan, urban design, landscape, and public space. We organize constraints, program, regulations, mobility, and landscape to build decision frameworks that can be sustained over time; from territorial plans to targeted interventions on existing urban fabric.
At every scale, the method is the same: find the decision that orders everything else before drawing a single line.
Masterplan, urban design, landscape, and public space. We organize constraints, program, regulations, mobility, and landscape to build decision frameworks that can be sustained over time; from territorial plans to targeted interventions on existing urban fabric.
Residential, institutional, and infrastructure architecture. We prioritize spatial clarity: we eliminate the dispensable, carry every decision through to the detail, and build projects that are precise before they are singular.
Experimental architecture and innovation.
We start from a question without a conventional answer, verify with models and prototypes when needed, and resolve with technical precision to build identity without artifice.
Experimental architecture and innovation.
We start from a question without a conventional answer, verify with models and prototypes when needed, and resolve with technical precision to build identity without artifice.
AWARDS
The studio’s work has received recognition in the Americas, Europe, and Asia, validating a method that prioritizes rigor over volume and sound decisions over formal preferences. Awards don’t define the practice; they only confirm that solving the right problem before designing generates results that hold over time.
publications
Books & media
Authorial writings
EXHIBITIONS
history
Formation of Criteria
The studio’s method began to take shape before it was formalized, in contexts where reformulating the problem changed the outcome.
In 1998, a proposal for the Fundació Mies van der Rohe in Barcelona established a decision that would define the method: not to interfere with the relationship between the pavilion and the visitor. The new building was excavated into the hillside to disappear from the visual field from the plaza. The right operation was not presence but strategic absence.
In 2001, a home where the kitchen moved like a heart won a silver medal in an international competition organized by Hanssem in South Korea, competing against more than 500 participants from the world’s leading architecture schools.
In 1998, a proposal for the Fundació Mies van der Rohe in Barcelona established a decision that would define the method: not to interfere with the relationship between the pavilion and the visitor. The new building was excavated into the hillside to disappear from the visual field from the plaza. The right operation was not presence but strategic absence.
In 2001, a home where the kitchen moved like a heart won a silver medal in an international competition organized by Hanssem in South Korea, competing against more than 500 participants from the world’s leading architecture schools.
The studio’s method began to take shape before it was formalized, in contexts where reformulating the problem changed the outcome.
In 1998, a proposal for the Fundació Mies van der Rohe in Barcelona established a decision that would define the method: not to interfere with the relationship between the pavilion and the visitor. The new building was excavated into the hillside to disappear from the visual field from the plaza. The right operation was not presence but strategic absence.
En 2001, una vivienda donde la cocina se movía como un corazón obtuvo medalla de plata en un concurso internacional organizado por Hanssem en Corea, compitiendo contra más de 500 participantes de las principales escuelas de arquitectura del mundo.
In 2002, a multimodal station for La Plata completely reframed the competition program. The jury said the proposal was “for Tokyo in 2050” and rejected it. The team held its ground: if the program was poorly framed, it had to be changed before deciding on form.
Months later, the proposal was invited to the Dutch Biennale and selected from a small group of projects for a presentation before Queen Beatrix. When the team returned, those who had questioned the approach never did so again.
That friction left a filter that still holds: the studio works best with clients who are willing to revisit the problem and its assumptions before settling on a solution.
In 1998, a proposal for the Fundació Mies van der Rohe in Barcelona established a decision that would define the method: not to interfere with the relationship between the pavilion and the visitor. The new building was excavated into the hillside to disappear from the visual field from the plaza. The right operation was not presence but strategic absence.
En 2001, una vivienda donde la cocina se movía como un corazón obtuvo medalla de plata en un concurso internacional organizado por Hanssem en Corea, compitiendo contra más de 500 participantes de las principales escuelas de arquitectura del mundo.
In 2002, a multimodal station for La Plata completely reframed the competition program. The jury said the proposal was “for Tokyo in 2050” and rejected it. The team held its ground: if the program was poorly framed, it had to be changed before deciding on form.
Months later, the proposal was invited to the Dutch Biennale and selected from a small group of projects for a presentation before Queen Beatrix. When the team returned, those who had questioned the approach never did so again.
That friction left a filter that still holds: the studio works best with clients who are willing to revisit the problem and its assumptions before settling on a solution.
In 2002, a multimodal station for La Plata completely reframed the competition program. The jury said the proposal was “for Tokyo in 2050” and rejected it. The team held its ground: if the program was poorly framed, it had to be changed before deciding on form.
Months later, the proposal was invited to the Dutch Biennale and selected from a small group of projects for a presentation before Queen Beatrix. When the team returned, those who had questioned the approach never did so again.
That friction left a filter that still holds: the studio works best with clients who are willing to revisit the problem and its assumptions before settling on a solution.
Months later, the proposal was invited to the Dutch Biennale and selected from a small group of projects for a presentation before Queen Beatrix. When the team returned, those who had questioned the approach never did so again.
That friction left a filter that still holds: the studio works best with clients who are willing to revisit the problem and its assumptions before settling on a solution.
Tension
In 2007 the studio was formalized as NOA (Najmias Oficina de Arquitectura). For ten years, two logics coexisted: when a commission allowed the problem to be reframed, the studio did so; when it didn’t, the proposal was adapted to meet expectations. Volume prevailed over method: the studio took on up to 15 projects a year. That diluted the coherence.
En paralelo, algunos proyectos sostuvieron una línea de investigación estable: cómo diseñar sin monopolizar lo valioso del entorno.
Starting in 2013, a series of houses in Brazil (BLNDR, 2V, and GRNT) worked on sloped sites with privileged sea views. In a context where construction tends to gain height and block the horizon, the projects sought the opposite: to organize the home to share the view and restore the horizon line for those passing by on the street. It was not a formal gesture: it was the condition that made it possible for each house to claim the horizon without competing for it.
In 2008, Tribal, a hotel in the Riviera Maya,, required “hurricane resistance.” The proposal reversed the approach: a building that disassembles and withdraws. The project was never built, but it left an operational rule: the problem doesn’t always match the brief.
El terremoto que devastó la costa chilena en febrero de 2010 obligó a una pregunta concreta: si el Estado iba a subsidiar la reconstrucción, ¿quién definía qué se reconstruía y cómo?
En paralelo, algunos proyectos sostuvieron una línea de investigación estable: cómo diseñar sin monopolizar lo valioso del entorno.
Starting in 2013, a series of houses in Brazil (BLNDR, 2V, and GRNT) worked on sloped sites with privileged sea views. In a context where construction tends to gain height and block the horizon, the projects sought the opposite: to organize the home to share the view and restore the horizon line for those passing by on the street. It was not a formal gesture: it was the condition that made it possible for each house to claim the horizon without competing for it.
In 2008, Tribal, a hotel in the Riviera Maya,, required “hurricane resistance.” The proposal reversed the approach: a building that disassembles and withdraws. The project was never built, but it left an operational rule: the problem doesn’t always match the brief.
El terremoto que devastó la costa chilena en febrero de 2010 obligó a una pregunta concreta: si el Estado iba a subsidiar la reconstrucción, ¿quién definía qué se reconstruía y cómo?
In 2007 the studio was formalized as NOA (Najmias Oficina de Arquitectura). For ten years, two logics coexisted: when a commission allowed the problem to be reframed, the studio did so; when it didn’t, the proposal was adapted to meet expectations. Volume prevailed over method: the studio took on up to 15 projects a year. That diluted the coherence.
En paralelo, algunos proyectos sostuvieron una línea de investigación estable: cómo diseñar sin monopolizar lo valioso del entorno.
Entre 2013 y años posteriores, una serie de casas en Brasil (BLNDR, 2V y GRNT) trabajó sobre terrenos en pendiente y vistas privilegiadas al mar. En un contexto donde la construcción tiende a ganar altura y bloquear el horizonte, los proyectos buscaron lo contrario: organizar la casa para compartir la vista y recuperar la línea del horizonte también para quienes pasan por la calle. No fue un gesto formal: fue la condición que hizo posible que cada casa ganara el horizonte sin competir por él. En 2008, Tribal, un hotel en la Riviera Maya, pedía “resistencia a huracanes”. La propuesta invirtió el enfoque: un edificio que se desarma y se retira. El proyecto no se construyó, pero dejó una regla operativa: el problema no siempre coincide con el brief.
In 2017, the Colegiales competition required a linear park and housing on a narrow site. The direct solution was to align long buildings parallel to the tracks, leaving little public space. The proposal changed the frame: perpendicular buildings that minimized footprint and generated linked parks. That made it possible to deliver 75% public space instead of the required 65%, with the same built area.
Entre esos años, reformas de departamentos con presupuestos ajustados exigieron precisión: con la misma planta, sumar un ambiente completo reorganizando circulaciones y eliminando metros improductivos.
En paralelo, algunos proyectos sostuvieron una línea de investigación estable: cómo diseñar sin monopolizar lo valioso del entorno.
Entre 2013 y años posteriores, una serie de casas en Brasil (BLNDR, 2V y GRNT) trabajó sobre terrenos en pendiente y vistas privilegiadas al mar. En un contexto donde la construcción tiende a ganar altura y bloquear el horizonte, los proyectos buscaron lo contrario: organizar la casa para compartir la vista y recuperar la línea del horizonte también para quienes pasan por la calle. No fue un gesto formal: fue la condición que hizo posible que cada casa ganara el horizonte sin competir por él. En 2008, Tribal, un hotel en la Riviera Maya, pedía “resistencia a huracanes”. La propuesta invirtió el enfoque: un edificio que se desarma y se retira. El proyecto no se construyó, pero dejó una regla operativa: el problema no siempre coincide con el brief.
In 2017, the Colegiales competition required a linear park and housing on a narrow site. The direct solution was to align long buildings parallel to the tracks, leaving little public space. The proposal changed the frame: perpendicular buildings that minimized footprint and generated linked parks. That made it possible to deliver 75% public space instead of the required 65%, with the same built area.
Entre esos años, reformas de departamentos con presupuestos ajustados exigieron precisión: con la misma planta, sumar un ambiente completo reorganizando circulaciones y eliminando metros improductivos.
That question led to ONE Change — Office for Natural Emergencies, a consortium founded with two other Argentine studios to address urban and architectural resilience in high-risk areas. It was not about exporting projects; it was about applying the method at the scale of public policy. Where there had once been a factory, there could be a park. Where the State was going to invest in reconstruction, that investment could be redirected toward a smarter urban framework. The consortium was selected by SUP Chile in its first call for proposals at the end of 2010, established its operations in Santiago in 2011, and concluded in 2012. Ultimately, a catastrophe is also a poorly framed commission.
In 2017, the Colegiales competition called for a linear park and housing on a narrow site. The straightforward solution was to align long buildings parallel to the railway tracks, leaving limited public space. The proposal reframed the problem: perpendicular buildings that minimized the footprint and created a sequence of interconnected parks. This made it possible to deliver 78% public space instead of the required 65%, with the same amount of built area.
Entre esos años, reformas de departamentos con presupuestos ajustados exigieron precisión: con la misma planta, sumar un ambiente completo reorganizando circulaciones y eliminando metros improductivos.
In 2017, the Colegiales competition called for a linear park and housing on a narrow site. The straightforward solution was to align long buildings parallel to the railway tracks, leaving limited public space. The proposal reframed the problem: perpendicular buildings that minimized the footprint and created a sequence of interconnected parks. This made it possible to deliver 78% public space instead of the required 65%, with the same amount of built area.
Entre esos años, reformas de departamentos con presupuestos ajustados exigieron precisión: con la misma planta, sumar un ambiente completo reorganizando circulaciones y eliminando metros improductivos.
Breaking Point
Colegiales turned a principle into a result: changing the question could win, and could be sustained over time.
The award-winning master plan preserved open space as its defining design decision. The result is simple and measurable: with the same amount of built area, the project delivers 78% public space.
The award-winning master plan preserved open space as its defining design decision. The result is simple and measurable: with the same amount of built area, the project delivers 78% public space.
Colegiales turned a principle into a result: changing the question could win, and could be sustained over time.
The winning masterplan protected the void as its primary decision. In a site that functioned as a fracture, that difference was not rhetorical: it made it possible for the park to exist as a continuous, usable urban piece, not as leftover space between buildings.
The winning masterplan protected the void as its primary decision. In a site that functioned as a fracture, that difference was not rhetorical: it made it possible for the park to exist as a continuous, usable urban piece, not as leftover space between buildings.
where the competition brief required only 65%. On a site that had long functioned as a fracture in the urban fabric, that difference was not merely rhetorical—it made it possible for the park to exist as a continuous, usable urban space rather than as leftover space between buildings.
Focus
The studio went from 15 projects a year to 5. Not due to capacity, but by method: it prioritizes commissions where the client needs to think through the problem and validate well-grounded decisions, not execute a predetermined one.
That method has a name: systemic reorganization. In TES (La Plata, 2002), the brief called for integrating trains, buses, and heritage. The decision was to eliminate the crossing between passengers and vehicles by design: passengers move above the maneuvering yard without touching the operational level. Without the crossing, accidents, travel times, and insurance costs all drop. In Tribal (2008), the commission called for hurricane resistance.
The answer was a hotel that disassembles in six hours and disappears before the storm arrives. The investment is not lost because the hotel is not there to take the hit: that is not a design decision, it is a different business model.
In the Brazilian houses (BLNDR, 2V, GRNT, 2013–2018), organizing the home to avoid blocking the horizon simultaneously resolved the client’s privacy, the neighborhood’s urban value, and the relationship with the landscape without adding structure.
That method has a name: systemic reorganization. In TES (La Plata, 2002), the brief called for integrating trains, buses, and heritage. The decision was to eliminate the crossing between passengers and vehicles by design: passengers move above the maneuvering yard without touching the operational level. Without the crossing, accidents, travel times, and insurance costs all drop. In Tribal (2008), the commission called for hurricane resistance.
The answer was a hotel that disassembles in six hours and disappears before the storm arrives. The investment is not lost because the hotel is not there to take the hit: that is not a design decision, it is a different business model.
In the Brazilian houses (BLNDR, 2V, GRNT, 2013–2018), organizing the home to avoid blocking the horizon simultaneously resolved the client’s privacy, the neighborhood’s urban value, and the relationship with the landscape without adding structure.
In Colegiales (2017), rotating the buildings 90 degrees delivered more park (78% vs. 65%), less impact on neighbors, higher sale value facing the green space, and phased management feasibility. In Salguero (2020), changing the urban cell from a traditional block to a single 3×3 plot allowed 53% green surface without reducing density, prioritizing the pedestrian without banning the car, and simplifying management without fragmenting public space.
Each project resolves multiple variables simultaneously because the right decision doesn’t address isolated problems: it orders the entire system. That is why the studio works with fewer projects. It is for clients willing to revisit the problem before building the solution.
In 2025, the name changes from NOA to
to make visible a practice already consolidated: alignment over volume; correct projects before more projects.
Each project resolves multiple variables simultaneously because the right decision doesn’t address isolated problems: it orders the entire system. That is why the studio works with fewer projects. It is for clients willing to revisit the problem before building the solution.
In 2025, the name changes from NOA to
Oliverio Najmias Arquitectos
to make visible a practice already consolidated: alignment over volume; correct projects before more projects.
OLIVERIO NAJMIAS
Oliverio Najmias founded the studio in 2007 and has led it ever since. Oliverio Najmias Arquitectos is a multiscalar practice based in Buenos Aires working in architecture, urban design, and landscape. His work begins by identifying what is really at stake when it is not yet evident, organizing the field of decisions, and only then designing: a method to avoid wrongheaded projects and sustain decisions over time.
Architect from the University of Buenos Aires (UBA), he began his teaching career at FADU-UBA in 1998. Since 2023 he is Full Professor of Introduction to Design Knowledge and Associate Professor of Architecture 3. He received two academic merit awards from UBA and in 2025 published Aprendiendo a mirar (FADU Pública), where he synthesizes what he teaches and practices: training the eye, questioning assumptions, and sustaining decisions.
Since 2007, Oliverio Najmias has led Oliverio Najmias Architects, a Buenos Aires–based multidisciplinary practice working across architecture, urbanism, urban design, and landscape architecture. His work begins by identifying the real problem—often before it is fully apparent—then organizing the decision-making process before designing. It is a method that ensures sound judgment remains intact through every stage of the project, down to the final decision. It is not a pursuit of spectacle, but a way of avoiding the wrong project altogether.
Oliverio Najmias is an architect graduated from the University of Buenos Aires (UBA) and has been teaching at FADU–UBA since 1998. He is currently Professor of Introduction to Design Thinking and Associate Professor of Architecture III. He has received two UBA Awards for Academic Merit, and in 2025 published Learning to See (FADU Pública), a book that distills the principles behind both his teaching and professional practice: training the eye, questioning assumptions, and making decisions that endure.
Since 2007, Oliverio Najmias has led Oliverio Najmias Architects, a Buenos Aires–based multidisciplinary practice working across architecture, urbanism, urban design, and landscape architecture. His work begins by identifying the real problem—often before it becomes apparent—then structuring the decision-making process before moving into design. It is not a pursuit of spectacle, but a way of avoiding the wrong projects.
He has co-led academic studios and programs at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, the Pontifical Xavierian University, and the University of Johannesburg. He has also served as a juror for international design competitions in the United States, the Czech Republic, South Africa, and Taiwan.
In 2002, he received his first international recognition with the Silver Medal at the Design Beyond East and West competition in South Korea. Since then, his work has earned numerous awards and has been widely published in leading architectural media and exhibited in international exhibitions.
Since 2007, Oliverio Najmias has led Oliverio Najmias Architects, a Buenos Aires–based multidisciplinary practice working across architecture, urbanism, urban design, and landscape architecture. His work begins by identifying the real problem—often before it becomes apparent—then structuring the decision-making process before moving into design. It is not a pursuit of spectacle, but a way of avoiding the wrong projects.
He has co-led academic studios and programs at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, the Pontifical Xavierian University, and the University of Johannesburg. He has also served as a juror for international design competitions in the United States, the Czech Republic, South Africa, and Taiwan.
In 2002, he received his first international recognition with the Silver Medal at the Design Beyond East and West competition in South Korea. Since then, his work has earned numerous awards and has been widely published in leading architectural media and exhibited in international exhibitions.
He has co-led academic studios and programs at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, the Pontifical Xavierian University, and the University of Johannesburg. He has also served as a juror for international design competitions in the United States, the Czech Republic, South Africa, and Taiwan. His work has been cited in academic research at universities across the Americas and Europe. In 2002, he received his first international recognition with the Silver Medal at the Design Beyond East and West competition in South Korea. Since then, the studio’s work has been exhibited at the inaugural Rotterdam Architecture Biennale (2003) and the São Paulo International Architecture Biennale (2006), received First Prize in the national Colegiales Railway Master Plan competition (SCA, 2017), been recognized by Architizer as one of Argentina’s leading architecture firms, and included in Architectural Digest’s AD100 2025, highlighting the 100 most outstanding creatives in the region, among many other international distinctions.
