The Agency

We design architectures that resemble nothing else. Not the kind that imposes its signature on a site. Not the kind that delivers a correct building on time. The kind that transforms a brief into something unexpected: a housing block into an inhabited forest, a school into a traversing landscape, a tower into a shared belvedere. This is how we work, at OXO. Founded in Paris by Manal Rachdi, an architect trained in biology, geology and architecture, the practice has built a method that begins where others stop: listening to the site. Before drawing the first line, we practice what Manal calls sensitive archaeology of context : a deep reading of the place, its climate, its uses, its memory. This quiet work is what makes every OXO project resemble only itself. What our approach brings is a vision for the place, the city and those who inhabit them. A vision that turns constraints into opportunities: a tight budget into radical choices, a difficult site into a remarkable project. Our clients, local authorities, developers, public and private project owners, come to OXO for what they cannot find elsewhere: architecture that creates long-term value. Spaces where people genuinely want to live, work, and return. L'Arbre Blanc in Montpellier, winner of an international competition, now a symbol of a new way of living. Mille Arbres in Paris, a bridge-building above the ring road, a suspended urban forest. The BEM at Saclay, an educational facility that redefines how to study. In Marseille, a collective housing programme conceived without air conditioning: bioclimatic orientation, vegetation, natural ventilation and material intelligence created apartments that stay cool in summer and warm in winter. All these projects have been celebrated by the national and international press, and honoured with numerous awards from international juries. We believe ecology is not decreed: it is designed. Integrating nature is not a label or an option. It is the starting point. Orientation, material, vegetation, water, natural light: everything is conceived so the building works with its environment, not against it. What we call ecolomie : the conviction that sustainability and quality of use do not oppose each other, they reinforce one another. We are always open to new adventures. Each project traces the path towards something that did not yet exist: it is with our clients that we invent, together, the spaces of tomorrow.