BUILDINGS ARE GROUNDED.
BUT ARCHITECTURE DOESN’T HAVE TO BE.

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Our mission is to improve our built environment without exceeding our planet’s bio-capacity. To do this, we need to fundamentally rethink the building industry. We need to put architecture in the cloud.

We are a global, interdisciplinary team of young professionals working on urban and architectural projects all around the world. We send a small team to work directly from each local site and engage a global cloud of experts with the ease and efficiency of co-located practice. We’re also using BIM, virtual reality, and data-driven research tools to optimize our process and enrich our client solutions.

WHAT IS CLOUD ARCH STUDIO?

Some people think that architects have their heads in the cloud. While that is sometimes true, at Cloud Arch Studio we invest our minds and hands fully in the local challenges of people and their communities. It’s our office which is in the cloud, and that lets us travel anywhere in the world to provide our services immediately to those in need.

What we really don’t need is more ‘starchitecture’. ‘Starchitects’ beam their own visions from far away and impose them brightly on status-seeking places. Cloud Arch Studio stands in the way of stars and brings the focus back to the world. We cover all parts of the world where people live and participate in a community-driven cycle of resources and ideas. We are lightweight, mobile, and full of energy. When a macro-urban problem needs attention we can strike down with sparks of innovation and systemic change. At the same time we can nurture grassroots change through micro-fixes like droplets of rain. No matter what, we strive to leave each place more nourished and self-sufficient than we found it.

Cloud Arch Studio was formed in March 2014 by Derek Ouyang and Sinan Mihelčič, and is a network of designers and engineers all around the world. Cloud Arch Studio LLC, a California limited liability company, was formed in January 2015 and is actively seeking fresh talent and new project opportunities.