The practice was established by James Dunnett in 1983 and he continues to be the principal designer and to be closely involved in every stage of every project.

 

The aim in every project is to meet the client’s brief precisely while creating spaces that fully meet the objectives of ‘Light, Space, Greenery’ – spaces that are harmonious and a joy to experience and live in and around, while meeting their functional purpose. In residential projects the objective wherever possible is to optimize the relationship between house and garden.

 

While having a profound love of historic architecture and a close interest in its conservation, he has never felt that this was sufficient by itself, because the quality of our future environment will inevitably depend largely on what we build now, how we meet our own needs. So the creation of new structures of quality has to go hand in hand with conservation of the best of the past. James Dunnett has as a result made a close study of the history and theory of the architecture and urbanism of the last hundred years – research reflected in the texts forming part of this website – to understand why we are where we are in architecture, to pick up on the best in it while identifying its shortcomings, and to move forward to new creation on the basis of understanding. As a long-standing member of the Green Register he recognises that the need radically to reduce the stress placed on the natural environment by rapidly rising levels of human consumption calls for a new chapter in the development of architectural form.