Integrity
Our design process is clear. We carry out an options analysis, which informs a diagram, which describes an architectural idea. We ensure that this founding architectural idea informs every subsequent decision we make. In this way, we can design buildings and spaces with clarity that tell their own story to those who construct them, those who will use them and those who will adapt them. We are absolutely rigorous about our process and believe that excellent design comes out of a combination of discipline and application, combined with a touch of lateral thinking and a tempering of humanity.
Legibility
Our buildings are marked by their legibility. This is a natural extension to the importance that we give to the architectural diagram. We design environments for users to engage with without the need for complex signage and control without the need for remote operating systems.
Adaptability
Infinitely more preferable than flexibility, adaptability describes the ability of a building or space to change easily through time as circumstances demand. Flexibility by definition assumes that people have to work around the constraints of the building. We create buildings and spaces that enable people to perform at their best.
Craftsmanship
We care about how our buildings are made. We select materials for robustness, beauty and appropriateness. We enjoy designing buildings with an expressive structure and refinement of detail, but we expect the structure and fabric of our buildings to work hard.
Energy
We are recognised as one of the leading pioneers of sustainability in the UK, having won an RIBA Sustainability Award in 2005. We have designed schools that achieve BREEAM 'very good' and 'excellent' ratings and 60% carbon reduction requirements. We manipulate existing buildings to creatively re-use them. We incorporate cost-effective passive environmental design into all of our projects as a matter of course. We use active environmental technology and select materials based on rigorous analysis of whole-life cost as well as capital cost.
Delight
We weave delight into our designs in a way that is about more than superficial finish. This may be as simple but as magnificent as the view of the landscape at the top of a flight of stairs or the way the sun casts a shadow of an elegant structure. We are not dedicated followers of fashion; we aspire to respect the past and look forward to the future, in order to create timeless solutions that exceed our clients' expectations.
Collaboration
Successful projects are the result of teamwork. We understand the importance of building long-term, meaningful relationships with clients, consultants and contractors who share our ethos and values. We undertake complex stakeholder and user consultation to help clarify visions and identify briefs, and use formal and informal participation programmes to inform our design process. We are expert at resolving complex, conflicting stakeholder requirements, and have successfully collaborated either as part of formal joint venture vehicles or informally as part of a project team.
Delivery
Our significant practice expertise of complex procurement and contractual administration processes allows us to provide substantial support to clients both directly and as part of a project team. We pride ourselves on ensuring that all of our projects, large and small, are properly resourced with a direct and senior management input and a highly experienced, committed team who are able meet the most challenging design and programme demands.