Architecture for creative types
The people who know they’re slightly different.
The ones that became artists, inventors, entrepreneurs, writers, academics, collectors and self-described cultural junkies of one sort or another. We’ve worked for some of the best in their game – from advertising agencies and web developers to painters, dress makers, and art galleries.
Cult critic, Arthur Wallace*, asked Sam Kebbell about who, why, and how we work with them.
Arthur Wallace: Can you tell me a bit more about who you mean by creative types?
Sam Kebbell: I mean the diverse, self-selected bunch who have one thing in common: the urge to create. While some people arrive at school or a workplace with innate creative talents and are quickly labelled “creative types”, just as many find their creative voice much more slowly, but they all love creating stuff. It’s a mindset rather than skillset.
AW: Why do creative types like working with you?
SK: Creatives like connecting ideas, and we think of architecture as a framework for doing that. When it’s done well it’s the basis for building a really strong culture: the culture of a home, an office, or an institution. That’s the real shared goal, to build a culture, not just a building. The best architecture is a beautiful framework for something much bigger.
AW: How do you work with these people?
SK: We start by listening and looking for ideas that are already there in the project, or just under the surface. The goal is to tease out these ideas and stitch them together into something coherent. That process gets richer with input from collaborators of all stripes, but ultimately it’s our job to bring it all together as simply as we can.
"We were able to engage at all levels, from practical to intellectual, in a collaboration notable for a refreshing absence of ego and preconception."
- Richard | Photographer