“The reach toward the stars is the most natural thing we do. Architecture has never been the arrangement of matter, but the orchestration of light through which consciousness makes a world. In space that truth is stripped bare: nothing is given, everything is chosen, and every surface must answer how a human being is to dwell. To build for the cosmos is to give form to human longing itself.”
I bring the same question home. Every house I design is a living world in layers: the matter it is made of, the light that moves through it, the inner life of the one who dwells in it. As they change, it changes with them.
The idea behind AD ASTRA dates back to 2014: architecture for extreme conditions, for places where even air, light and gravity have to be provided. Jovana Stojković founded the atelier in 2022. Its name means to the stars.
She studied architecture first, then geophysics, which taught her to read the layers beneath the surface. She has also studied astrophysics and space architecture, and holds a Master of Architecture.
She started drawing very early and has always noticed small details. In the atelier this became a way of working. Each project starts with a study of light and is then drawn in full, including the furniture and light fittings, which the atelier designs itself. The engineers who design and sign the structure and building services work under her lead, so clients deal with one person throughout.
Her inspiration comes mostly from outside architecture: the universe and its phenomena, nature, music, painting and photography. In the darkroom she makes photograms without a camera or film, and under the microscope she photographs minerals in polarized light.
So far she has worked on more than sixty projects in Switzerland, Serbia, Ireland, Italy, Norway, France and the United States, including houses, apartments and workplaces with their interiors, museums and competition entries.
She is a member of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. She led the architecture of Helios Ark, a ship for interstellar travel, which was selected among the ten best designs of the Project Hyperion Challenge 2025. She works with the Institute of Space Systems (IRS) at the University of Stuttgart, and collaborates on a few other space projects.