Oliver Schütte
Costa Rica
I was educated as an architect, which is a profession that naturally interacts with a lot of other professionals who are related to the process of planning and building. Through personal drive and external influences, I started to look way beyond that group of people to think about development in a broader and global sense. I was lucky to work with a series of masters and colleagues whom I admire and who encouraged me in pursuing that path. My own office now focuses on breaking those boundaries of single professions or perspectives in order to co-create through our interdisciplinary work methodology. We design for development with participatory and multi-stakeholder approaches, which has led us to a very interesting variety of topics and scales that we deal with on a daily basis. The results are often surprising and reaffirming in the sense of finding meaning and added value by working together. Access Oliver Schütte Newsroom
Featured Designs
Oliver Schütte
Residential Architecture
The No Footprint Wood House is located along the southern Pacific coast of Costa Rica. Its bioclimatic design integrates with the surrounding lush tropical forests and natural habitat. The project forms part of the multi-award winning No Footprint House series. Climate-responsive building variations are based on passive design strategies. Industrial building techniques and prefabricated components are combined with locally harvested and regenerative construction materials. The project promotes integral sustainability in terms of its social, economic, environmental and spatial performance.
A' Sustainable Products, Projects and Green Design Award - Platinum (2025) - Access Oliver Schütte Residential Architecture Press Kit
Oliver Schütte
Residential
The Black House forms part of the modular No Footprint House series. The climate responsive designs of the project are based on passive strategies such as site specific positioning and the use of natural resources for cross ventilation, solar shading and energy production, as well as rainwater harvesting and biological water filtration. Industrial construction techniques create a high level of efficiency that can be delivered to any target location, combined with locally harvested and renewable materials to promote integral sustainability and regenerative development for the built environment.
A' Sustainable Products, Projects and Green Design Award - Silver (2024) - Access Oliver Schütte Residential Press Kit
Oliver Schütte
Residential Prototype
The NFH is developed for serial production, based on a larger toolbox of prefabricated residential typologies. A first prototype was built for a European family in the southwest of Costa Rica. They chose a two-bedroom configuration with steel structure and pine wood finishes, which was shipped to its target location on one single truck. The building is designed around a central service core in order to optimize logistical efficiency regarding assembly, maintenance and usage. The project seeks for integral sustainability in terms of its economic, environmental, social and spatial performance.
A' Sustainable Products, Projects and Green Design Award - Silver (2020) - Access Oliver Schütte Residential Prototype Press Kit