PSA Publishers: 30 Years of Quality in Architecture

World-Architects is a website best known for its more than twenty online national and regional platforms that represent architects, landscape architects, interior designers, engineers, lighting designers, manufacturers, and architectural photographers from over fifty countries on six continents. Few visitors to the website may know World-Architects began as a publication, literally a paper index. PSA Publishers Ltd was founded in 1994 by Hans Demarmels, Andres Sigg, and Valentina Herrmann as the first independent publisher of architects’ profiles. The original concept was simple: a yearbook-like index with profiles of carefully selected Swiss architects, the best, most trusted professionals — PSA first stood for Presentation of Swiss Architects. 

The founders had experience in advertising and a great passion for architecture, but they often found that architects wanted to remain pure, letting their work speak for itself.  Self-promotion — or what today we might call a communications team — seemed impolite, overly commercial, almost tacky. But there was a crucial need for such promotion in order for architects and potential clients to meet and work together. PSA paved the way. Nowadays the idea might sound quaint, but at the time it was almost revolutionary and certainly surprising. Within just a few years the internet was blossoming and promising ease of business and creativity beyond national borders. So, in 1998, PSA launched its first digital platform, putting its directory of architects online.

Things were changing so fast that, by the year 2000, the entire business model had to change. The internet was transforming how professionals communicated, advertised, and connected. Charles Ganz, a longtime promoter of arts and culture, joined the team in New York City to make PSA more cultural, more international. Thanks to his efforts, the New York platform was launched, both as a web page and a book, both representing the best offices in New York. But in 2001 PSA decided to leave their print origins behind and focus on online publishing only. newyork-architects 01–02 would be the last book of the Selected Architects series.

Charles – having moved to Zurich in 2001 - would prove indispensable in PSA’s expansion. Able to bridge cultural gaps and connect people throughout the world with his charm, quick wit, and enthusiasm for quality in architecture, he knew an online project needed a team with discerning tastes and diverse interests. In 2003 the Stuttgart-based architect Peter Petz was hired as the curator of the German-Architects platform. Now a director, Peter was instrumental in taking PSA “offline” — into the realm of expos and other in-person events, using the network of architects to craft guided tours and other events at expos and trade fairs. 

In 2006 the first edition of the Swiss-Architects Magazine was launched. The online magazines are a key part of World-Architects, offering curated editorial content and news updates for national audiences. In the years since, the network of journalists and writers contributing to the magazines grew in parallel to the web traffic. Perhaps more than anything, it is the magazines that give World-Architects such a unique place in the realm of architectural culture: Instead of just promoting the best offices, World-Architects works with leading journalists and thinkers to bring readers articles about architecture and its relationship to the world in terms of social responsibility, culture, and technology.

As more people visited World-Architects, more national platforms opened and new people joined the team. Two such milestones included the 2006 appointment of Eduard Kögel, an architectural researcher in Berlin, as curator for China and architect John Hill being appointed as curator for the United States in 2009. For years John had been practicing as an architect but also writing about quality in architecture on his own blog. John became a sort of secret weapon for PSA; since 2012 he has edited the World English Magazine, providing a seal of excellence that very few online architectural outlets possess.

On other platforms, Jenny Keller served as editor-in-chief of the Swiss-Architects Magazine from 2011 until 2018, and Katinka Corts edited the German-Architects Magazine from 2015 until 2024. Today Elias Baumgarten, previously an editor at archithese, edits both of these magazines as well as the Austria-Architects Magazine he launched in 2019, the same year he joined PSA. 

The year 2015 was a key one for PSA. An expanded focus on the Spanish-language platforms, in collaboration with the Barcelona-based design and architecture communications specialist Miriam Giordano, led to the launch of the Spanish-Architects Magazine that year. Also, in 2015, the ownership changed after twenty years. Managing Director Charles Ganz, CTO Falk Romano, CEO Renato Turri, and Chairwoman Nicole Mayer took over the shares of company founder Hans Demarmels.

Renato, trained as a manager rather than an architect, pushed for the company to be at once more ambitious and also more personable, a little kinder, perhaps. He insisted that employees reach out and stretch their horizons, and worked tirelessly to create a team of freelancers and partners all across the planet. The trade fairs in Germany and other parts of Europe remained an integral part of the business model. Renato however looked beyond the commercial part of the business and recognized the need to work with and within governmental institutions — seeing that World-Architects could provide tech know-how and cultural savvy to more traditional public models. 

An example of this vision includes the Young Talent Architecture Award that PSA, especially Charles Ganz, together with Fundació Mies van der Rohe and Creative Europe, founded in 2016. In 2018, thanks to Renato’s vision and impetus and with the indispensable support of Eduard Koegel, the company started Spotlight China, a successful longterm initiative with the German industry partner JUNG to strengthen PSA’s and JUNG's presence in China with Chinese-Architects. That same year, the successful work in Spain led to the first memorandum of understanding with the Consejo Superior de Colegios de Arquitectos de España (CSCAE), which was renewed in 2023 to further promote quality Spanish architecture globally. 

In addition to the people in the public eye: writers, curators, sales and marketing staff, Renato never forgets that the real wizards, the IT team, truly at the heart of PSA. Falk, since 2008, and his colleagues James and Vlad work tirelessly to ensure that the platforms run like a well- oiled machine and are continuously improved. 

Today, World-Architects is a small but powerful platform, an online company that works thanks in great part to several separate engines: directors Charles, Falk, Peter, and Renato; editorial chiefs John and Elias; Chika and Ryogo in Japan; Miriam and Antonio in Spain; and Paula Pierotti in Italy. Each person brings their own strengths to the table so that World-Architects represents the best in technological expertise, international networking, in-person events, in-depth coverage of the architectural scene, and a strong sense of social responsibility and commitment to the local and global community. 

When Renato thinks about the future of PSA, he imagines a truly hybrid and agile company, with the online platform at the core but also more in-person, “analogue” events. When faced with the challenges of AI he imagines a swing back to the original message: a focus on people presenting quality projects, a company helping to communicate those projects, and building trust — one conversation at a time. 

Thirty years on, World-Architects still works in a relatively simple way to connect people and professionals, and to build trust and long-term relationships by paying attention to the details of each office, each project, each person and place. Many orbits, many connections, but always with a focus on quality in architecture, the people behind each vision and office and more than ever on social responsibility.