Nunatak Station in the low summer sun

We design buildings for places that resist them.

07 — Nunatak Station · Marie Byrd Land, Antarctica · 760 m above sea level

01 — Practice

Instinctual Group is an architecture and engineering practice of 420 people in six studios. We take on the sites others turn down (above the tree line, below the water table, under the sea, inside the rock) and the programmes that ask the most of a building: research, infrastructure, archives, secure workplaces and very tall towers.

Our approach

02 — Datum

All work

Above and below

Thirteen projects drawn to one scale, each measured from its own ground or sea level: up to the highest point, down to the deepest level excavated or occupied (piles and anchors are not counted).

Thirteen projects above and below ground Each project is drawn from its own ground or sea level, up to its highest point and down to the deepest level excavated or occupied: Tessera Tower rises highest, 388.5 metres above ground, and Halde Deep Archive reaches deepest, 96 metres below ground. +300 m +200 m +100 m −50 m ±0.00 GROUND / SEA LEVEL 01 Harlingen Market Hall: +8.4 m / −1.8 m+8.4−1.801 02 Base-Isolated Hospital: +38.0 m / −12.0 m+38.0−12.002 03 Caldera Base: +9.0 m / −7.5 m+9.0−7.503 04 Cirque Summit Station: +21.0 m / −6.0 m+21.0−6.004 05 Halde Deep Archive: +12.0 m / −96.0 m+12.0−96.005 06 Northgate Campus: +18.0 m / −28.0 m+18.0−28.006 07 Nunatak Station: +9.0 m / −4.5 m+9.0−4.507 08 Tessera Tower: +388.5 m / −32.0 m+388.5−32.008 09 Halocline Station: +6.0 m / −22.0 m+6.0−22.009 10 Uusimaa Rock Data Hall: +8.0 m / −72.0 m+8.0−72.010 11 Pelham Yard: +142.0 m / −9.0 m+142.0−9.011 12 Erg Solar Campus: +16.0 m / −6.0 m+16.0−6.012 13 Deep Line Interchange: +6.0 m / −58.0 m+6.0−58.013

Highest point

  1. +388.5Tessera Tower
  2. +142.0Pelham Yard
  3. +38.0Base-Isolated Hospital
  4. +21.0Cirque Summit Station
  5. +18.0Northgate Campus
  6. +16.0Erg Solar Campus
All thirteen
  1. +12.0Halde Deep Archive
  2. +9.0Caldera Base
  3. +9.0Nunatak Station
  4. +8.4Harlingen Market Hall
  5. +8.0Uusimaa Rock Data Hall
  6. +6.0Halocline Station
  7. +6.0Deep Line Interchange

±0.00 Ground / sea level

Deepest level

  1. −96.0Halde Deep Archive
  2. −72.0Uusimaa Rock Data Hall
  3. −58.0Deep Line Interchange
  4. −32.0Tessera Tower
  5. −28.0Northgate Campus
  6. −22.0Halocline Station
All thirteen
  1. −12.0Base-Isolated Hospital
  2. −9.0Pelham Yard
  3. −7.5Caldera Base
  4. −6.0Cirque Summit Station
  5. −6.0Erg Solar Campus
  6. −4.5Nunatak Station
  7. −1.8Harlingen Market Hall

03 — Selected work

All 13 projects

04 — Research

Research & Technology

Engineering in the same room

Our architects and engineers share the same tables, from the first sketch to the last commissioning test. Four things we have learned to do well:

05 — Since 2004

06 — News

All news

Six studios, one practice. We are hiring architects, engineers and computational designers.

Open positions