The way we work has evolved over a number of years rather than through a single declaration or manifesto, and often we are too busy to consider it consciously. When challenged recently, we found that we were clumsy in articulating our ethos, preferring to let the drawings do the talking. Winning BD’s Education Architect of the Year was, therefore, a welcome prompt to step back and consider how we work and what we believe in.

Architecture shapes space for its (usually human) inhabitants. Of course, the critical point is the quality of that shaping—the consideration of volume, proportion, touch, colour, and texture—but if you don’t understand people, you cannot design for them. This applies equally whether you are designing smartphones, trousers or, in our case, buildings and landscapes.

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