PRACTICE
Habiter Autrement is an architectural practice directed by Swedish architect Mia Hägg, with an office in Locarno, Switzerland. The firm’s work is characterized by its attention to the site of a project, in the largest sense. Rather than working from an existing design motivation, the firm looks to reveal and direct the forces that are already present when they begin their research. This can include design moves that reference to an area’s history, reveal a geographical context, or expose a particular quality of light.

Mia Hägg founded Habiter Autrement in 2007, after working on many large-scale projects with Herzog & de Meuron and Ateliers Jean Nouvel. Habiter Autrement’s working process also has an improvisational quality many of the firm’s designs are collaborations with other architects, as well as with individuals and companies outside the discipline. As a Swedish architect working in Paris and Switzerland, who has completed projects in Europe and Asia, Mia Hägg’s extensive international experience has given her a broad range of colleagues whom she often invites to collaborate with her. Since 2007, the firm has worked on projects of all scales.
In the field of public housing, characterized by legislative constraints and limited budgets, frequently leading to compromised designs, Habiter Autrement has concentrated on rethinking the common assumptions of housing, looking for ways to go beyond the standard solutions often imposed by clients and construction companies. The office immediately gained recognition when it was awarded the first prize in a competition for five innovative public housing projects in Bordeaux, in partnership with Atelier Jean Nouvel (AJN) and developer ING Real Estate.

Since its foundation, Habiter Autrement has designed housing, stadiums, offices and masterplans, among other work. In 2011, three of the five Bordeaux projects were completed with Habiter Autrement as lead architect and, in 2012, the Lormont housing was awarded the Agora Architecture Prize. The jury, headed by Winy Maas of MVRDV, recognized the beauty of the project as well as the complexity of building on a site under the Aquitane bridge. Two of the firm's other housing projects, Armagnac and Cenon, both received special mention in the competition.


PEOPLE
Mia Hägg is an architect and the founder of Habiter Autrement, initially based in Paris and, subsequently, in Locarno. Since 2007, Habiter Autrement has designed housing and commercial buildings as well as various masterplans. The approach to innovative public housing has been a particular focus for the practice and the office has built three award-winning projects in Bordeaux as well as one in Paris.

In her early career, at Ateliers Jean Nouvel, she was employed as Assistant Project Manager on the Dentsu Tower, Tokyo and later at, Herzog & de Meuron, as Project Manager for the National Stadium of the 2008 Beiijing Olympics. Mia Hägg has been teaching Master and Bachelor levels at UCLovain in Tournai, Belgium and at the Accdemia di Architettura in Mendriso, Switzerland. She is regularly invited to give lectures at academic institutions and to join juries internationally, most recently the 2022 EU/Mies van der Rohe Prize jury.

She participated in the Venice Biennale in 2012 and 2016. Mia Hägg is committee member of Europan Sweden and of the Swiss Federation of Architects in Ticino.
List of Collaborators since 2007:

Stéphane Allaire, Kim Bjarke, Christian Bernhardt, Elise Camus, Anthony Clark, Florian Delon, Enrico Demattè, Adrien Durrmeyer, Sandrine Forais (Associate until 2011), Laure Frachet, Julie Heyde, Florence Houis, Gustav Hultman, Mathilde Jauvin, Benjamin Joudrier, Sunkoo Kang, Max Koch, Hiroko Kusunoki, Lina Lagerström, Aimee Lau, Aude Lerpinière, Yichen Lu, Louis Mangin, Félix Medina, Nicolas Métro , Veronique Paties, Thomas Radczuweit, Jean-Jacques Raynaud, Jennifer Schmachtenberg, Hosoub Shin, Elisabet Sundin, Marcello Stabile, Victor Ung, Martin Uppman, Marcel Züger


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