Biography

I have a deep interest in the cultures of cities --to borrow the title of a great book-- and their foundational components, namely the form and function of housing, and the broader assembly of open spaces and buildings that shape cities and towns.

I mix the practice of architecture and town planning, with recent roles as design advisor producing expert witness work for a culturally sensitive site, for a UK local authority. I sit on UNESCO Expert Working Groups for the Preservation of the Jam and Herat sites, Gohr and Herat Province, as well as for Bamiyan, Afghanistan. I have worked on large scale planning and design projects for St. Petersburg, Russian Federation, as well as for Doha, Qatar. I recently completed a residential remodelling project for a historic building in Testaccio, Rome, as well as writing the design statement for a large development project in the City of London —now permitted— for Schroders and Stanhope.

As an undergraduate I studied architecture and urban design at Oxford (year one) and Kingston, with Katerina Rüedi and Jonathan Hill. Post-graduate study followed at the Bartlett School, University College London (Dipl. Arch) and later, I forwent a position at Peter Eisenman’s office in New York for a Fellowship at Princeton University, USA. I produced an M.Arch thesis for central Berlin, for a new public archive, foreign office, and train terminus on the site of the Palast der Republik (1976-1990), with advisor, Elizabeth Diller. I also studied with Alessandra Ponte, Tony Vidler, Mark Wigley and Michael Graves. I held a teaching assistantship at Princeton for undergraduate History and Theory of Cities studies, as well as Architecture Design studio.

After graduation, I worked in New York City with Bonnie Roche Architects, and later, with Lawrence Kenny, who had studied and worked under Mies van Der Rohe, Myron Goldsmith and Fazlur Khan in the 1960s. We produced public work for the New York City Schools Construction Authority and private residential work for well known figures in the music, arts and broadcasting media.

I returned to London in the late 1990s and worked for international practices Gensler and Koetter Kim. From these offices I gained valuable insight into working with clients, that included local communities on New Deal type vision and strategic planning work for National Government Agency, English Partnerships, and a Regional Development Agency (RDA) in Yorkshire. Working with Fred Koetter, (Dean at Yale 1993-98) town planning and landscape architect colleagues, I extended my understanding of design.

I produced the plan for the extension of St. Petersburg, Russian Federation, west, on land claimed from the Gulf of Finland, and later, for The Emir of Qatar’s Private Engineering Office (PEO), concept design for The Arab Centre for Research and Policy Studies and The Doha Institute for Graduate Studies on a 5 hectare site for Dr. Azmi Bishara. A year later, the PEO invited a design for the then new Emir’s Rayyan Palace, on a 53 hectare central Doha site in Doha.

How we can work together, project vision, & process

I am an experienced architect, conservationist, urban planner and designer. I work collaboratively with clients to understand their interest, needs and preferences, as well as the potential of their site. From this foundation, a project vision is formed in dialogue. This includes laying out the brief, budget, timing, and other core matters for client agreement, from which production of a special design proceeds.

A sequence of work stages follow, from concepts and design development through to realisation. Contrasting options and alternatives are considered to explore optimum utility, beauty, atmosphere and affordability, and durable, sustainably efficient design.

A commission could encompass a pre-purchase feasibility study through to construction and completion of a home, or alternatively, it could be for an initial stage only, to produce, for example, any or all of (1.) a feasibility plan, (2.) obtain pre-planning advice, and (3.), a co-ordinated concept design prepared and submitted for a planning application.

I have a sound network of support for particular aspects of design and technique. Whether you’re considering a site, or know exactly what you want, or somewhere in between, please get in touch.

This is a Chartered Practice Member of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), practicing in observation of the RIBA code of professional conduct, and registered with the Architects Registration Board (ARB). I am a member of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB).

Services

• Site finding pre-purchase advice

• Feasibility studies

• Prepare and obtain pre-planning advice

• Planning and listed building applications

• Architecture remodeling, renovation & conservation design

• Interior, furniture and lighting design

• Strategic planning

• Urban design and master planning

• Design communications

• Project management

The environment

I am keenly aware of the inextricable link between the construction of buildings and cities and the fragility of the environment. I employ a creative and adaptive approach to existing buildings and sites which seeks to release value in overlooked and undervalued arrangements. Local labour and natural materials are used, and existing building fabric, machines and / or systems are conserved or upgraded for reuse where practical. High standards of construction and the careful handling, organisation and disposal of materials to reduce waste is promoted. I support Client Earth, the international activist lawyers’ group on the environment, having provided them with pro-bono spatial planning advice.

Articles of interest

“A dwelling for the gods”, The Stonborough-Wittgenstein House, Vienna, 1928 - https://www.thelondonlist.com/culture/wittgenstein-house

Rudolph. M. Schindler, Architect - https://www.makcenter.org/schindler-house

https://www.laconservancy.org/architects/r-m-schindler

Of the 1922 Kings Road. House, Los Angeles, Reyner Banham wrote in 1962, “a living tribute to one of the greatest domestic designers extraordinary of the C20; one of the originals of our time, to be approached and valued on its own terms”. Banham reflected in 1971 the Schindler House comes close to being designed “as if there had never been houses before”. Each of four adults took their own studio room in relation to shared courtyard gardens; a concept for cooperative living from the culture of Vienna decades ahead of its time.

Marina Warner and Sarah Bakewell Exhibition, Metamorphing: Transformation in science, art and mythology - https://www.studiointernational.com/index.php/metamorphing-transformation-in-science-art-and-mythology

The State of the World Atlas: Current incarnation of Michael Kidron and Ronald Segal’s ground breaking 1981 Pluto Press publication - https://myriadeditions.com/books/the-state-of-the-world-atlas/

ClientEarth International lawyer’s group defending the global environment - https://www.clientearth.org