Architecture is about much more than creating a functional, built environment. The skill in creating value lies in how the design process can add to that functionality by producing great places and buildings that are beautiful, sustainable and maximise the client’s investment. Like the best art and music, the most valuable compositions are often the simplest.

 

Great places enrich our lives and lift our spirits. We all like to live, work and play in harmonious surroundings that we feel secure in; can find our way round in, have the right scale and use natural materials.

 

Great buildings help underpin those places. But the best ones link arms with their neighbours rather than stand out and shout. They highlight the collective place rather than the individual icon.

 

Interventions in existing buildings and places need sensitive touches, to ensure existing value isn’t lost and to ensure new value is added, not just for the owners but for users and visitors.