/New practice STUDIO/gather: ’Nothing beats site meetings that end with a dip in the sea’

/The latest in a series of practice profiles looking at architects who have recently decided to go it alone

Here's a snippet from our article in the AJ (Architects Journal) you can read more about it on the link at the bottom. What work do you have and what kind of projects are you looking for? We haven’t been prescriptive about project type apart from that the clients need to share our ethos: design to be just enough; considered material choices for both you and the planet; true sustainability.

This seems to have given us a magnetism for truly individual projects but, more so, clients. They are more often than not people who have been creatives in their own rights, not just in design but in carving their own paths in life: artists, economists, fashionistas, self-builders, leaders and teachers, for examples.

This brings a diverse range of styles, project sizes and types. We currently have a number of new builds which are reaching for Passivhaus standards. One takes on the form of a modern adaptation of a Cornish cottage vernacular, another is a play on a ‘1960s case study house’ and our most recent one is what we class as ‘hidden rural’ – a house that at a glance could well be a rudimentary farmstead, but is actually a cutting-edge, highly environmentally friendly family home.

It is not all bells and whistles, however, and that’s what’s keeps us grounded. Our backgrounds as individuals is specialising in true sustainable design, both the grass shirt stuff and the technical number-crunching. We have a fair few deep renovation projects focusing on using natural materials to achieve high levels of insulation and airtightness, as well as minimising embodied carbon.

We have formulated a simple questionnaire for prospective clients to start thinking about how their buildings actually work and what effects this will have on keeping our global temperature below a 1.5°C rise. Taking a lot of learning from Architects Declare and the RIBA’s 2030 challenge has helped to open discussions and ultimately focus clients on what we hope to achieve with their projects.

Read the whole article here: https://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/news/new-practice-studio-gather-nothing-beats-site-meetings-that-end-with-a-dip-in-the-sea