Site
Every commission begins with weeks of fieldwork. We measure light, mark prevailing winds, and listen for the silences a place is already keeping. Drawing follows observation, never the other way around.
EST. 2014 · NEW YORK
Architectureshaped by light.
A New York studio designing quiet, precise spaces for modern living. Every project begins with the same question: how does the light fall here?
View PortfolioPhilosophy
“We do not impose buildings on a site. We listen for what the site is already trying to say, and answer with stone, glass, and silence.”
— Hiroshi Tanaka, Founding Principal
Method
A practice in three movements.
Structure
We resolve form before we resolve material. A building should hold itself before it learns its colour. This discipline lets us spend richness only where it earns its keep.
Silence
We design quiet, so the building speaks. Our work tries to leave a place stiller than we found it — and ten years later, more itself than the day the keys were handed over.
Selected Works
Portfolio
2024
House on the Cliff
A residence cantilevered over a granite ledge in the Hudson Valley, framing the river through three precisely cut openings.
2023
Mercer Library
A community library where every reading nook receives diffused morning light through louvered teak screens.
2022
Hwa Pavilion
A meditation pavilion suspended on four steel columns above a reflective shallow pool.
The Practice in Numbers
148
Built Projects · since 2014
32
International Awards
11
Cities Worldwide
24
Studio Members
Urban Volumes
Working at the scale of the block.
Studio
Recent Work
Recognition
Awards & Publications
2024
World Architecture Festival
Building of the Year — Cultural
2024
RIBA International Award
2023
Dezeen Awards
Residence of the Year
2023
Architectural Digest
World's Best Architects
2022
LEAF Awards
Best Sustainable Practice
2022
World Architecture Community
25 Best Houses of the Year
2021
Architects' Journal
Building of the Year
Connect
Begin a conversation.
Start a ProjectStudio
Atelier Noma
Studio · 168 Bowery, 4th Floor · New York, NY 10012
Monday — Friday · 09:00 to 18:00 ET
© 2026 Atelier Noma