Onisger

A heritage and architecture studio in Ulaanbaatar. We survey and repair historic buildings, and design new ones that learn from them.

heritage & architecture

Onisger

Scroll to take the ger apart

Heritage is building knowledge. It is how people learned to stand in the wind, keep warm through a long winter, and make things that last.

Onisger puts that knowledge to work, on historic buildings and on new ones.

We start by measuring.

Every project begins with a careful look at what is already there: the building, the ground it stands on, and the people who use it. From there, the work takes one of three forms.

  • Survey and documentation

    Measured drawings, condition surveys and archival research. We record historic buildings precisely before anyone decides what to change.

  • Conservation and renovation

    Repair strategies and renovation design for protected and historic buildings in timber and masonry, planned with the craftspeople who will carry them out.

  • New architecture

    Houses, interiors and public spaces that draw on Mongolian building knowledge: compact plans, light from above and real warmth in deep winter.

So far

  1. 2026

    Onisger opens in Ulaanbaatar

    An independent studio for heritage and architecture.

  2. 2025

    Endangered historic wooden housing

    Documentation and conservation work on Ulaanbaatar’s at-risk wooden houses. Ariunzaya worked as a collaborator on the local project team.

  3. 2024

    Renovating protected buildings

    Architect on the renovation of protected historic buildings.

  4. 2023

    Nara, Japan

    Training programme in the Conservation and Management of Wooden Built Heritage.

Four roofs, four answers

Every building tradition answers the same question at the top: how to keep the weather out and the warmth in. Here are four answers we keep learning from, each set on the walls that carry it.

  • Felt roof of a Mongolian ger, with the crown at its top and an ornamented band and fringe at the eave.
    MongoliaFelt laid over roof poles that meet at a crown, which lets in light and lets out smoke. The whole house packs up and moves with the seasons.
  • Vermilion temple roof with deep curved eaves and a dark ridge beam with gold crests.
    JapanDeep eaves on timber brackets. Temple roofs are taken apart and rebuilt with the same joinery, piece by piece.
  • Double-eaved imperial roof in glazed yellow tiles, with small guardian figures along the hips.
    ChinaGlazed yellow tiles, once reserved for the emperor, with a line of guardian figures along every hip.
  • Turf roof covered in grass and wildflowers, with a stone chimney and a timber edge.
    NorwayBirch bark under living turf. The meadow keeps the rain out and holds the warmth in.
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Ariunzaya Batdorj

Architect and founder

Ariunzaya is an architect who works with historic buildings. She has worked on the renovation of protected buildings, trained in the conservation of wooden heritage in Nara, Japan, and helped document Ulaanbaatar’s endangered wooden houses.

She started Onisger to bring the same care to every project, from repairing a single beam to designing a new building that sits well beside the old ones.

Write to Ariunzaya

Start with a conversation.

Tell us about the building, the site or the idea you have in mind.

ariunzaya@onisger.com

Local time in Ulaanbaatar