Nahoko Hara and Zeno Vogel founded office haratori as an architecture firm in Zurich in 2004. Mercè Portell joined in 2011 and managed the office together with Zeno Vogel from 2016 to 2023. Office haratori has continuously dealt with projects along two main axes: firstly urban developments and transformations, secondly housing. The questions of dealing with the existing are in the foreground: transformation, preservation, restoration not only for the sake of sustainability, but also out of cultural conviction. An environment in which design moves between reference, expression, construction and production.

Living finds expression in small conversions: a sleeping chamber in the old tower house, the conversion of a hay barn into an alpine loft in Mathon (Prix Lignum 2018, International "Domus Restoration and Preservation" Prize, 2020). Larger residential projects include the Zurich Freilager with 270 apartments (Gute Bauten Kanton Zürich 2019), the facade of the Zölly residential tower in Zurich (Hase in Silber 2014, Betonpreis 17), the 100% prefabricated residential towers in Eindhoven (14 storeys) and last at the August Allebéplein in Amsterdam (20 storeys). The urban planning contributions are made in studies, test planning and masterplans: among others the Quartierplan Kleinbruggen in Chur, 2015 (450 apartments) or the Testplanung Leutschenbach-Mitte, 2010 (basis of the masterplan for the high-rise area). With the design of the entrance of the Park Hyatt Zurich (a house by Meili, Peter Architekten with Zeno Vogel, 2004) or with the flagship store Bucherer at Bahnhofstrasse Zurich, office haratori placed ambitious and representative urban projects in the public space.

Since 2007 office haratori has been working closely with office winhov from Amsterdam, in some of the mentioned projects, in friendship, researching the relevance of each one's experiences, the stranger-view in different contexts.