In our work we look for existing spatial qualities and believe in the potential of difference and diversity. We acknowledge our responsibility towards shaping and influencing our cultural, social and physical environment. We research, teach and build, and learn continually through these processes. We recognize the specific conditions of each project and seek for solutions that are sustainable, direct and optimistic.

Rahbaran Hürzeler Architects is an architectural practice founded in Basel, Switzerland by Shadi Rahbaran and Ursula Hürzeler. The work of the office spans all scales and programs from experimental and public institutional projects to urban strategies, spatial installations and exhibition scenography.

Recent works include the "Movable House", an experimental prototype exploring the sufficiency of living space and alternative forms of living. Other projects include primary school buildings in the Swiss Alpine region, the mixed-use transformation of a former industrial site in central Switzerland, the development and transformation of an urban district in Lucerne and housing projects in Basel and its outskirts.

Shadi Rahbaran and Ursula Hürzeler have both been engaged in teaching and urban research at various universities such as at ETH Studio Basel, Lucerne University HSLU and the Design-Lab of Kyoto Institute of Technology. Rahbaran Hürzeler hold a professorship at the Institute of Architecture, University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland FHNW in Basel.

Rahbaran Hürzeler hold a professorship at the Institute of Architecture, University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland in Basel (FHNW).
Since the summer of 2025, Shadi Rahbaran and Ursula Hürzeler have co-directed the Institute of Architecture at FHNW in Basel.

TEAM

Virginia Isora Grimaldi, Architektin M.Sc. AAM
Joåo Pedro Henriques, Architekt M.Sc.
Viola Hillmer, Architektin M.Sc., B.Sc. Holzingenieurwesen
Hilma Hultquist, Architektin M.Sc.
Ursula Hürzeler, dipl. Architektin ETH SIA BSA

Anna-Lena Kriz, Architektin M.Sc.
Elena Kohler, Architektin M.Sc.
Dominik Lüthi, Architekt B.A. FHNW
Pierre Martin, Architekt M.Sc.
Ines Nopper, Architektin M.Sc.

Atsushi Onoe, Architekt M.Sc. AAM

Emilie-Louise Pöpl, Architektin M.Sc.

Shadi Rahbaran, dipl. B.Arch. Architektin BSA
Jonathan Schmidt, Architekt M.Sc.
Rebecca Wirz, Architektin M.Sc. ETH
Cristina Wirth, B.A. Fashion Design,
Administration und communications

Former:

Johanna Waechter, Philipp Bosshart, Margherita De Angelis, Simon Würgler, Timo Hansen, Kilian Schellenberger, Francesca E. Mavaracchio, Samuele Sciarretta, Juan Solera, Joao Rodrigues, Marcel Wagner, Natacha Batista, Eleonora Minchio, Siripat Rojnirun, Dominic Stähli, Eugenio Cappuccio, Ilinca Zastinceanu, Lisa Tran, Laura Corredor, Julian Nieciecki, Silvio Koch, Albert Perez, Filipe Magalhães, Luis Soares, Bartłomiej Markowski, Christoph Jantos, Anne Keser, Jonas Wirth, Annette Fromm, Tomas Pollach, Jeronimo Mejia, Juerg Burger, Kathrin Gimmel

Vita

Shadi Rahbaran co-founded Rahbaran Hürzeler Architects in 2011 in Basel. After finishing her architecture studies at the University of Toronto, she worked at various offices including Bruce Mau Design in Toronto and OMA/Rem Koolhaas in Rotterdam, Berlin and Porto. She started teaching in 2006 as a Design Critic at Cornell University AAP and continued teaching and urban research at ETH Zurich, Studio Basel with Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron from 2007 to 2013 and led the Harvard GSD Study Abroad at ETH Studio Basel in 2013. She has been engaged in teaching and urban research at the Design Lab of Kyoto Institute of Technology in Japan from 2015-2019 exploring the 'metabolism of the city'.

Since 2019 she is appointed professor at the Institute of Architecture, University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland FHNW in Basel.

Rahbaran Hürzeler hold a professorship at the Institute of Architecture, University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland in Basel (FHNW). Since the summer of 2025, she co-directed the Institute of Architecture at FHNW in Basel with Ursula Hürzeler.
Shadi Rahbaran was born in Iran and has lived in Germany, USA and Canada prior to moving to Basel.

Ursula Hürzeler co-founded Rahbaran Hürzeler Architects in 2011 in Basel. She received her architecture degree from ETHZ – Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich and has worked at diverse offices in Switzerland and Spain gaining extensive experience in the field of design, project management and execution. Ursula Hürzeler worked at AV62 in Barcelona in 2005 and at Herzog & de Meuron from 2006 to 2011 where she was involved in the project management of various large-scale projects.

She taught and researched at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts FHNW in Basel from 2011 to 2014 and at Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts HSLU in 2018.
Since 2019 she is appointed Professor at the Institute of Architecture at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland FHNW in Basel. Since the summer of 2025, she co-directed the Institute of Architecture at FHNW in Basel with Shadi Rahbaran.