Office Profile

As architects we bear responsibility for continuing the history of our architectural culture and for helping to shape the built environment in which we live. We are a classic architecture practice that aims to build and as such combine expertise in areas ranging from urban planning studies to architecture competitions, planning services of all kinds and to constructing the building. We link these specialist areas and place our knowledge at the service of the building and the spaces for life that it offers.

In our design work we never start from preconceived ideas, instead we collaborate with developers to identify the unique character of every commission and to anchor it in a broad physical, sociocultural, and ecological context. We are motivated by our aim to create buildings and places with a lasting value that enhance their immediate urban surroundings in spatial, design or social terms. In each of our projects we commit ourselves to producing sustainable design at the highest level – through simplicity, reusability, permanence, adaptability, and technical innovation we must work proactively at improving the building’s ecological impact and the way in which it uses resources.

We believe in and support the architecture competition as it is a guarantor of architectural culture and stimulates our own reflectiveness and creativity. While we see ourselves as our clients’ trustees, we also have an obligation to the users of our buildings and to the public. Given this wide-ranging responsibility we believe that design means constantly searching and negotiating; this is a meandering, iterative process and we appreciate the willingness of our clients and partners to embark on this insightful journey together with us.

We are proud of the fact that over a period of almost one hundred years our office has been bringing together around forty staff members from quite diverse backgrounds. We believe it is important to cultivate an inclusive, open, and transparent atmosphere in our studio that allows our process-based design strategy to produce robust solutions and an architecture that is equally open and inclusive.

Wilhelm Fischer, the founder of the architecture practice, was born in 1900 in Dottikon, Aargau. Influenced by his father’s joinery business, he completed an apprenticeship as a structural draftsman and subsequently studied architecture at the technical college in Burgdorf. He gained his first experience in offices in Germany and Switzerland.

The new factory and residential building for SIM AG at Letzigraben in Zurich Albisrieden (1929) gave Wilhelm Fischer the opportunity to become self-employed. This was followed by his first large housing developments, including the apartment buildings on Speerstrasse in Zurich Wollishofen (1932) and the former Morgenstern restaurant in Zurich Albisrieden (1935), which was regarded as an example of a moderate modernism.

Drawing inspiration from the works of Max E. Haefeli, Wilhelm Fischer designed the Lagler House in Uitikon (1957), a private residential building with an open floor plan that employs the typical formal language of the 1950s. Wilhelm Fischer continued to contribute to the firm until 1979.

In 1960, Wilhelm’s son Eugen O. Fischer joined the architectural firm after graduating from ETH Zurich and working as an assistant to Professor Albert H. Steiner. He successfully turned his attention to architecture competitions.

Eugen O. Fischer’s designs reflect the influences of architects such as Walter M. Förderer, Roland Gross, Claude Paillard or Ernst Gisel, for instance his competition-winning design for Vogtsrain primary school in Zurich Höngg (1966–1973). Other prize-winning entries in competitions followed, including the church of St. Katharina in Zurich Affoltern (1967–1972), which received an award for good buildings of the city of Zurich, or the Büel B school building in Unterengstringen (1974).

In 1967, Eugen Mannhart joined the office, dedicating his efforts to developing the areas of project management and construction supervision. Together, the partners achieved further success, for example by winning the competition for the garden housing estate Winzerhalde (1978–1982), which also received an award for good buildings from the city of Zurich.
Following Eugen O. Fischer’s passing in December 1999, the leadership team continued to steer the architecture office in the direction that Fischer had initiated and increasingly focussed on the area of competitions.

From 1998 onwards, Christian Leuner initially worked for Fischer Architects on a freelance basis on several competitions before taking over the management and becoming majority shareholder in 2001. Beat Engeler, Ernst Breiter and Beat Eyer formed the new leadership team together with him.

A sizable number of first prizes – for example, for the renovation of the HPP and HPM2 buildings on the ETH Hönggerberg campus (2006 and 2011), the Hochbord residential development in Dübendorf (2012) and the Aarerain plus-energy quarter in Ittigen (2016) – meant that until today the office is able to make the majority of its acquisitions from competitions and study commissions. Further important buildings include the Kreuzbühl school building extension in Zurich Riesbach (2011–2015) and the Birmensdorferstrasse high-rise building in Zurich Wiedikon (2015–2022).

In 2017, Carol Gartmann joined the management team as business economist overseeing finance and human resources. Preparations for the next generational transition were underway with Simon Edelmann and Mark van Kleef joining in 2020, followed by Gian Müller in 2022. Christian Leuner’s retirement from operational business in spring 2023 marked the beginning of the fourth era for Fischer Architekten.

Since spring 2023, Simon Edelmann, Gian Müller, Mark van Kleef and Carol Gartmann have formed the management and shareholders of Fischer Architekten. As members of the management team, they have already made significant contributions to the firm’s success in the past and have played a major role in shaping its culture.

Simon Edelmann joined Fischer Architekten in 2012 and has been a member of the management since 2020. He particularly established a reputation in the field of competitions, with his signature style evident in projects such as the Octavo II conversion in Zurich Oerlikon (2018), the LGT Vaduz expansion (2019) or the Lerchenweg residential development in Kloten (2020). Today, among other things, he leads the design team and serves as chairman of the board of directors.

Gian Müller has been with Fischer Architekten since 2013 and joined the management team in 2022. In addition to construction-related tasks in all project subphases, he is responsible for BIM. Among the projects he led to completion with a sure hand are the Hochbord residential development in Dübendorf (2012–2017) or the residential and commercial building at Ziegeleiplatz in Winterthur Dättnau (2015–2021).

Mark van Kleef was managing director of the Swiss office of Max Dudler Architekten, which he built up and led to success. In 2020, he joined Fischer Architekten as a member of the management team. He focuses primarily on execution planning, with projects such as the Dietlimoos housing estate in Adliswil (2014–2025) and the Lerchenhalde cooperative housing estate in Zurich Affoltern (2019–2026), as well as general planning.

Carol Gartmann completes the management team as a federally certified auditor. She is responsible for controlling at project and company level and manages the areas of finance and human resources. Furthermore, she is in charge of the supervision and further development of the quality management.

In its new constellation, the management has set itself the goal of providing clients with the usual high planning quality and construction expertise, but also to increasingly seek answers to current challenges such as energy efficiency, resource preservation and circular construction. The team’s confidence in its chosen course has been reinforced by several first prizes in major competitions, including the Schützenmatt site development in Emmen (2023) and the Lucerne Cantonal Hospital in Sursee (2025), as well as the successful completion of a number of significant projects.