Hand-fired brick
Petersen D71 · DK
FROMEgernsundFIRED1,040 °C · coalBONDWild FlemishUSED IN09 / 31
Established MMXII · Copenhagen·A studio of four
An architecture
of patience.
A small practice working on residential, cultural and civic projects across the Nordics. We draw slowly, build with restraint, and stay on site until the door closes for the last time. Currently taking on two projects for 2027.
In practice
12 yrs
Built / on site
31 / 4
Disciplines
4 hands
i.North-east elev.Completed MMXXII
Founded MMXII·31 built · 4 on site·"A building is the slowest letter you will ever write."·Royal Academy guest tutors, '21 – '24 ·Mies van der Rohe nominee, MMXX
Thirty-one buildings, each one drawn twice.
Once on paper, once on site. We don't keep an active backlog - the studio works on three projects at a time, and we will tell you honestly whether we are the right hands for yours.
№
Project
Location
Typology
Year
Status
/032
Vandtårn House
→
/031
Skovly Library
→
/030
Skagen Pavilion
→
/029
Tegelvej Townhouses
→
/028
Kløver House
→
/027
Vinterhus Cabin
→
/026
Nordvest Lofts
→
/025
Strand Chapel
→
/024
Lyngby Schoolhouse
→
Showing 9 of 32 · listed reverse-chronologicalThe complete index →
№ 028 · Built MMXXIV · Single-family
Kløver House.
A two-volume farmhouse on a clover field outside Vejle. Hand-fired brick, blackened larch, lime-washed walls inside. Drawn over fourteen months.
Location
Vejle, DK55.71°N · 9.54°E
Site
1,820 m²Clover meadow, S-facing
Programme
186 m² GFA3 bed · 2 bath · studio
Client
PrivateTwo musicians, one dog
Engineer
Holm & BergStructural · Aarhus
Photography
Rasmus LindForthcoming · Dwell, '25
Dwg · 028 / A-101Floor plan · ground floorScale 1:10014 Nov 2023
Studio Maren Holst · Kløver House
0125 m
Sheet A-101 of 24Dwg · 028 / A-201Section A-A · longitudinalScale 1:100
Kløver House · Section A-A
0125 m
Sheet A-201A house, folded from a clover field.
The owners are two musicians who needed a room that could hold a grand piano and a winter's worth of quiet. We placed the larger volume east-west to catch low afternoon sun and tilted the second volume off-axis by 11° so that the studio looks across the meadow and not back at the house.
The wall poché on the plan above is honest - 480 mm thick, brick on the outside, lime plaster on the inside, with a layer of recycled wool batt between. The walls do the heating work the radiators don't need to.
- StatusCompleted Nov 2024
- Energy classA2020 · Passive
- HeatingGround-source heat pump
- ContractorBygmester Vestjylland
- AwardsTræprisen, 2025 (shortlist)
The south elevation.
The brick was fired thirty kilometres from the site, in a kiln that has been running since 1894. We picked seven different bonds out of a sample wall and let the bricklayers choose between them, course by course. The result is a façade that looks like it was made by hand, because it was.
- BrickPetersen D71 · hand-fired
- CladdingCharred larch · Yakisugi
- RoofStanding-seam zinc · pre-weathered
- JoineryOak · oil-finished
- GlazingTriple · timber-aluminium
Dwg · 028 / A-301South elevation1:100
Kløver House · South elevation
0125 m
Sheet A-301PHOTO · 01Main volume from the south, late afternoon
PHOTO · 02Kitchen, looking onto meadow
PHOTO · 03Loft studio, under the ridge
№ 030 · Built MMXXV · Cultural pavilion
Skagen Pavilion.
A 64 m² reading pavilion on a dune walk between the Skagen Museum and the sea, commissioned by the municipality and paid for by the wind.
Location
Skagen, DK57.72°N · 10.58°E
Programme
64 m²Reading room + WC
Client
Skagen KommuneOpen competition · 1st prize
Construction
CLT & oakEight weeks on site
Dwg · 030 / SP-01Site plan · dune approach1:500
Skagen Pavilion · Site plan
02550 m
Sheet SP-01A small room for the long light.
Skagen sits at the meeting of two seas, and the light there is famous for a reason. The brief asked for a place to sit and read on the walk from the museum to the water. We answered with a single CLT room, lifted 600 mm off the dune on twelve oak posts, oriented N12°W so that the long bench inside sees only sea, not parking.
The roof is a single shallow ridge with a slot of glazing along its length, dropping a 60 cm-wide blade of north light onto the back wall through the day. No glare, no shadow on the page. We tested it with a paper model and a torch in the studio for a week.
- GFA64 m² · single room
- Capacity14 seated · 22 standing
- Embodied carbon−21 kg CO₂e / m²
- Opened21 June 2025 · midsummer
PHOTO · 04Approach across dune, looking N-NE
The materials we keep returning to.
Twelve years in, we use a smaller vocabulary than we did at the start. These four show up across nearly every drawing that leaves the studio.
Charred larch
Yakisugi · Norway larch
CHARRED4–5 mmFINISHSingle oil coatLIFETIME80+ yrsUSED IN14 / 31
Lime plaster
Cal Forte · 3-coat
BINDERNHL 3.5FINAL12 mm trowelPIGMENTBone black, traceUSED IN22 / 31
European oak
Quercus robur · rift-sawn
SOURCEJutland · FSCFINISHSoap + raw oilUSEFloors · joineryUSED IN28 / 31
A studio of four, on the third floor of a former candle works.
Maren Holst founded the studio in 2012, six months after leaving Henning Larsen, with a single commission for a sailmaker's cottage on Bornholm. The studio has stayed small on purpose. We keep three projects on at a time, no more.
Every drawing that leaves the office passes through the same four hands. We do our own measured surveys, our own visualisations, and we live with the buildings for at least one winter after they open. We do not subcontract care.
M. Holst
What we do
Design and project lead, from brief to handover. Survey, planning, tender, site administration, post-occupancy.
ConceptPlanningTenderOn-site
Typologies
We build houses, small cultural buildings, public libraries, adaptive reuse, and the occasional sauna. We do not work on commercial offices or hotels.
Cost
Fees run 10–14% of construction cost. A house in our hands will not be cheap. Every drawing is sized to the budget; we will turn down a project before we will cheapen one.
Currently taking on
Two projects for 2027 - one residential, one cultural. Initial conversation runs 45 minutes, free, on site if possible.
Four people, one office.
Everyone in the studio has at least eight years on site. None of us are juniors. We hire slowly.
i / iv
Maren Holst
Founding partner · principal
22 yrs · MAA · KADK '04, Henning Larsen '06–'12. Teaches studio at the Royal Academy on Wednesdays. Writes, sometimes.
ii / iv
Asger Lundgren
Senior · project architect
14 yrs · MAA · with the studio since 2015. Runs the site administration for everything north of the Limfjord.
iii / iv
Sigrid Tønnesen
Architect · design
11 yrs · MAA · NOR-DK. Detail-led, drew every joint at Kløver House by hand at 1:5.
iv / iv
Per Søndergaard
Architect · construction
9 yrs · MAA · carpenter before he was an architect. Reads tender documents the way most people read novels.
Twelve years of thank-you letters.
We keep a short list. The studio has been published in places we read, and lost competitions to friends we admire. We are listing both.
Selected awards
- 2025Træprisen shortlist · Kløver House
- 2024RIBA International, longlist
- 2023Mies van der Rohe Award, nominee
- 2022Skagen Pavilion open competition, 1st
- 2020Bornholm Sustainability Prize
- 2018Eternit Prisen for adaptive reuse
Selected press
- 2025Dezeen · "The slow architecture of Maren Holst"
- 2025Domus № 1098 · Kløver House feature
- 2024Wallpaper* · "Patient hands"
- 2024Politiken · Sunday architecture column
- 2023Detail Magazine · Skagen Pavilion build study
- 2022Arkitektur DK · cover & portfolio
Dezeen·Domus·Wallpaper*·Detail·Politiken·Arkitektur DK·Mark
Third floor, Refshaleøen.
You can come by, with a little notice. The kettle is always on.
100 M
Drop by, by appointment.
Refshalevej 167, 3 fl.
1432 København K
Denmark
1432 København K
Denmark
Now taking on · 2027
Begin a conversation.
Tell us a little about the project - where it is, what it might become, and when you'd like to break ground. We reply within five working days, usually less. If the fit is right, we'll come visit the site.