Architecture must be forward looking and should aim to create the kind of world we would like to inhabit in the future. We believe design can be a catalyst for positive environmental change. Our work is an attempt to realise this vision and to produce buildings that are ahead of their time. The practice integrates the skills of architecture with engineering, both structural and environmental, urbanism, interior and industrial design, model and film making, geometry, materials research and many more – our collegiate working environment is similar to a compact university. By working together from the outset, we learn from one another and combine our knowledge to devise fully integrated design solutions.
The Technical Design Group ensures that specialised solutions and innovation, alongside construction quality and technical detail, are present in all the practice’s work. The Technical Design Group carries out reviews of the technical design of projects at regular intervals after scheme design until completion. This ensures that high standards of technical quality are maintained in every project.
The Design Communications team is responsible for the creation of visual artwork for all projects from sketches through to photorealistic imagery. Playing a key part in the explorative design process, the team creates and designs artworks that illustrate the complex relationships within the built environment with a strong focus on storytelling.
Designing at the urban scale is a complex undertaking, whether it involves a masterplan for a city, a regeneration scheme for a neighbourhood, or planning a new public transport system. Our team includes planners and spatial designers, economists and anthropologists, and landscape architects and mobility engineers, working together to create thriving and resilient environments. In this era of unprecedented social, technological, and environmental change, our approach anticipates the evolutionary changes and rapid transformations shaping our urban environments.
The Structural team works on the design and delivery of projects all around the world. The design ethos of the team is to find the most elegant minimal resolution to the structural challenges of a particular project – to identify the ‘inevitable’ solution, where nothing more can be removed...
The Applied R+D (Research + Development) team is an integrated multi-disciplinary team of architects and engineers, who are also expert programmers. Our expertise ranges from art, aerospace engineering, and computer science to landscape architecture, structural engineering and applied mathematics...
Providing an information and research service for the practice, the Materials Research Centre and the Information Centre together look at current and new materials, products, companies, technology, innovation, sustainability and technical issues. The Materials Research Centre is an in-house reference that houses over twenty thousand samples of materials and products. The Information Centre is a physical library of product literature including brochures, catalogues and technical information.
The Specialist Modelling Group focusses on three core areas, Geometry and Building Physics and Innovation. The Geometry team works on Complex Geometrical Modelling and Fabrication Strategies. The Building Physics team looks at the movement of natural light, air and sound, while focussing on occupant comfort. The Innovation projects include collaborative research with universities and industry partners, exploring far-reaching ideas from bio-inspired engineering to extra-planetary 3D printing.
By designing a building from the inside-out as much as from the outside-in, we inculcate a sense of continuity and connection to the wider world. The starting point for any design solution is to gain an understanding of people’s needs and the way in which a space will be used. The goal is the creation of interiors that are both functional and elegant, while evoking a sense of place and complementing a building’s outward expression.
With our three in-house workshops, we construct presentation models, sketch models and mock-ups of all styles, sizes and scales. Speed, combined with an ability to quickly interpret a brief, is paramount in providing a reactive service. We maintain an up-to-date knowledge of all modelmaking activities, from techniques and styles to innovative new technology. This is in parallel to maintaining and developing our traditional handcraft skills. Our deep understanding of the latest industry developments is vital to our success and our ability to develop as a team. Our workshops are fully equipped with an array of digital and traditional machinery. Due to the growing demand for model innovation, our workshop spaces have grown with our creativity to incorporate larger workshop facilities, allowing us to expand our team, fabricate large-scale mock-ups and create large presentation and competition models.