For Salwa and Selma Mikoü, a building is also a statement about the architect. “As architects, we are building also our own personality, our own culture, our own way to see the world,” the sisters say in We Are Building Ourselves, a 2026 film produced by the Louisiana Channel and the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art. The twins treat every commission as a chance to test their place in the profession, especially in moroccan craft architecture.
Born in Fez, Morocco, the Franco-Moroccan sisters founded Mikoü Architecture in Paris in 2008. The film’s credits list the studio as Mikoü Architecture, @mikou_architectures. Their work joins Moroccan craft and ornament with prefabrication architecture and the technical logic of construction.
Where moroccan craft architecture meets industry
The sisters see engineering as the skeleton of a building. It is a hidden system that shapes how a building looks and how it feels to move through it. For them, structure is not a backstage problem to solve after the design is set.
Their interest in industrial methods follows from that view and shapes their moroccan craft architecture. They call industrialization a “progress gesture,” while admitting that these methods are “still not standard at all.” The studio’s website describes its approach as a “Manufacture of Architecture,” a systemic vision that combines architecture, engineering, construction and advanced technology.
Industrial production does not push out craftsmanship in their work. The sisters ask how a factory-made part can still carry a sense of singularity. They also ask how the knowledge of a material, gained by handling it, can survive in a system built for repetition.
The same balance between factory methods and regional identity appears in Prefabricated Cabins Blend Modern Design with Slavic Tradition, a hillside project worth a look for how prefabrication can honor local heritage.
Ornament, in their view, can emerge from the construction process itself. In the film, they compare the tension between what a building reveals and what it hides to archaeology. A ruin shows the outline of what once stood, and a building can do the same for the methods that made it.
Memory as a way of reading space
The sisters point to the traditional riad, with its terraces and inward-facing spaces, where neighbors can see and speak to one another. Its terraces overlooked neighboring homes, so family life and the street were always in contact. Those early spaces taught them that moroccan craft architecture shapes relationships between people.
They speak about Marrakech as an “immersive city” and about the strong impressions that places leave on them. The move from bright, narrow streets into shaded, private rooms became a lesson in sequence. Selma recalls the terraces as places to watch neighbors and talk across the lanes.
The studio’s method for reading a site is called the Atlas of Resonance. The term describes a way of mapping territory through its geology, cultural history, local knowledge and hidden structures. The Atlas of Resonance interprets territories through their hidden layers: memory, geology, cultural narratives, and craft traditions.
Two voices, one practice
Salwa and Selma describe a process that involves a lot of talking and drawing. They draw and sketch on their own, then bring the results together. Over time, that habit led them to collage, which combines two imaginations into one composition. They call this way of working part of their DNA.
Working together has shaped the way the sisters think and work. Their interests diverged early in their careers. The sources differ on where each worked. The film says each sister worked at both Ateliers Jean Nouvel and Renzo Piano Building Workshop. The sisters each worked at both Ateliers Jean Nouvel and Renzo Piano Building Workshop.
Being twins has also raised familiar questions. Selma notes that people often treat them as a single person, and the sisters say they must still leave room for each other’s doubts.
Projects in progress and built work
The Belcier mixed-use block in Bordeaux combines homes, dining, sports facilities, waterfront activity and outdoor padel courts. The studio relies on off-site prefabrication and assembly, which means building components in a factory before installing them. The method integrates the structural system and the building envelope, the outer skin that keeps weather out.
Art de Rives, also in Bordeaux, brings together housing, artist residencies and student accommodation beside the Garonne. The film’s architects call it a “kind of urban millefeuille,” a layered pastry.
The Hermès Metalwork Manufacture in Champigny-sur-Marne is designed around a fully controlled production chain. The studio also aims to showcase exceptional craftsmanship and to engage with the surrounding territory. In the Museum Park, pavilions are spread along an East-West axis across the Norman landscape, forming a constellation rather than a single block.
ArchDaily also lists Aquazena, a swimming pool and wellness center in Greater Paris, among the practice’s built works.
Low-carbon ambitions
The studio’s manifesto promotes a contextual approach to ecology, emphasizing a material-based economy and local resources. The studio’s projects rely on off-site prefabrication and assembly techniques, integrating the construction system and the building envelope. Dry construction means assembling elements without wet mortar or poured concrete on site.
Off-site assembly also drives Stefano Boeri’s Modular Timber Housing in Ibiza, which shows how prefabricated timber can bring greenery into a dense neighbourhood.
They also argue that the life of an existing building should be extended. For them, sustainability means preserving the knowledge and memory held in a material, not only the material itself.
Their approach to moroccan craft architecture returns to a simple test. Their projects, the studio says, enhance social and human interactions. That standard, more than any single technique, links their work across Paris, Bordeaux and Fez.
Sources & Links
Frequently asked questions
Where were the Mikoü sisters born and where is their studio founded?
Salwa and Selma Mikoü were born in Fez, Morocco. They founded Mikoü Architecture in Paris in 2008.
How do the Mikoü sisters collaborate on their architectural designs?
Each sister draws and sketches on her own, then they bring the results together. Over time this habit led them to collage, which combines two imaginations into one composition.
What is the Atlas of Resonance used for by the Mikoü studio?
The Atlas of Resonance is the studio’s method for reading a site. It maps territory through its geology, cultural history, local knowledge and hidden structures.
What does off-site prefabrication mean in the Belcier project?
Off-site prefabrication means building components in a factory before installing them on site. In the Belcier project, this method integrates the structural system and the building envelope, the outer skin that keeps weather out.
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