One of the first questions we ask ourselves at the beginning of a project is: “What character should this space have?”, “What should it feel like?” From these kinds of questions a strategy emerges through dialogue which we test and explore at different scales simultaneously in order to link the ‘idea’ and the ‘making’ of the detail.

The atmosphere or mood of a space is therefore something we consider carefully when we are designing. In this way we try to remain sensitive to the shared and personal memories of places and spaces. These aspects of architecture which derive from experience, emotion and subjectivity are difficult to define but they always enter into our dialogue as we design.

Teaching and writing on architectural issues and concepts form an important part of the way we work, as they provide discipline and structure to research and speculative thinking.

Jonathan Sergison and Stephen Bates have taught at a number of internationally recognised schools of architecture, including the Architectural Association in London, ETH in Zurich and EPF in Lausanne.

Our work proceeds hand in hand with research into construction and material, as we seek to engage the architectural ‘idea’ with the ‘reality’ of making. Housing projects, for example, have allowed us to explore prefabricated construction such as timber-panel construction and breathing-wall technologies.

In more recent projects we have been testing other construction technologies which are new to contemporary construction although not new in the evolution of building, such as solid-wall and tilt-up concrete construction. By re-examining and updating these older methods we have made them relevant again.

What is consistent with this research is the will to work closely with manufacturers and makers; to enter into a dialogue and to think from first principles.

The result of research carried out into brick construction was described in a recent exhibition and book entitled ‘Brick-work: thinking and making’. The exhibition was first shown at ETH in Zurich in October 2005 and was subsequently exhibited at the RIBA in London, at the Haus der Architekten in Dresden, at Galerie Renate Kammer in Hamburg, at the Vienna Technical University and finally at COAC in Barcelona in September 2007.

Close observation of place, of context and of circumstance initiates any project we undertake, as we believe that a design response must engage with place. In this sense each project emerges as specific, special and with a unique character.

We regard our buildings therefore as rooted in place; their physical and spatial expression emerging from our own reading of what is already there.

In many situations the buildings we design are intended to mediate with their surroundings and to contribute in a discreet way to the city fabric. In other situations our projects seek to re-arrange or re-orientate their surroundings.

A consistent ambition in our work is to consider the ‘classical’ aspects of architecture: proportion, weight and a sense of permanence. This is because we believe these characteristics contribute significantly to the essence of place making: enclosure, protection and comfort.

Attitudes towards notions of continuity, either culturally or urbanistically, interest us as we believe in the continuity of architectural form and urbanism.

Working in the urban environment requires us to consider how existing urban forms or situations may be modified or adjusted to allow change and development...

...and to create the territory which allows inhabitation even in highly contested urban places.

We like to consider the discreet qualities of occupation and inhabitation when designing spaces or detailing surfaces so that changes is the life of buildings are not obstructed, nor merely accidental.

While we respect both the ‘traditions of use’ and the way modern codes dictate spatial arrangements we also attempt to think critically and manipulate given criteria to the maximum benefit.

Finding the appropriate relationship between the sense of ‘interior’ and ‘outside’ is a central aspect of our thinking when we design. Our tendency is to reinforce the interiority of a room and this often brings about a subtle layering between the inside and the outside, between the foreground and the background.

This relationship is further emphasised through the detailing of surfaces and materials.

We work with materials and objects at all scales, as in this range of ironmongery, where the feeling and weight of material at 1:1 scale becomes a defining factor in design.

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We like to use construction to express the structural character and ornamentation of material giving a single unity to a conglomerate whole.

Whether through the stacking assembly of a tectonic structure or the consistency of a single ‘overall’ covering envelope, we strive to give our buildings a powerful material presence and an expression of gravity and grace.

Our investigations into masonry construction have been exploring the multiple meanings of brick – as a product of standardization on the one hand and as an object in itself – and of its cultural status which is historically rich and complex.

The tectonic manipulation of the facades of buildings allows for a diversity of uses within a disciplined external framework...

...and in this way the external surfaces of buildings form varied backgrounds to the city environment, facilitating use and creating identity.

Urban studies and framework planning have allowed us to think more strategically about development in the urban environment.

Our interest in urban form and type inform this work..

This work has made us sensitive to the political, social and economic structures that inform change and may bring about regeneration. It has also required us to develop the skills to carry out consultation excercises and negotiations with different stakeholders

We are involved in a number of projects linked to the 2012 Olympics in London, advising the London Development Agency (LDA), Design for London (DfL) and local authorities on regeneration, re-location, development and urban design issues.

This includes test planning and masterplanning exercises and the development of design coding often in deprived and under-developed areas of the city

As opportunities to build outside the UK have grown steadily we continue to work closely with place and cultural context.

Working in cities such as Geneva where we are designing a new apartment building on the edge of the medieval city, we are developing an architectural form which reconciles the differences of neighbouring buildings.

Collaboration is central to the success in building away from home and we have developed fruitful friendly relationships with a network of architects and associated collaborators.