Christophe Egret
Founding Director
As a co-founding partner of Studio Egret West, I have the privilege of nurturing and galvanising the pursuit of passion of a large group of talented creatives. That alone would be fulfilment enough.
But I also love discovering the qualities of places and buildings through painting and drawing and sharing this visual communication with colleagues and clients, testing through these the design principles that we establish on every project. This is a skill I learnt and cultivated while working with Will Alsop when I completed, amongst other projects, the Peckham Library, winner of the Stirling Prize in 2000.
When we set up Studio Egret West back in 2004, David West and I had an ambition to reunite urban design and architecture. This has led us to a path that is less concerned with aesthetics for its own sake and more so with the qualities of place, be it as an experience of social cohesion or a memorable space that lifts the spirit. I particularly cherish the idea of rootedness, an approach that aims to give buildings the sense they have grown out of the specific characteristics of a site rather than as formal or intellectual concepts dropped from above. This leads to another preoccupation, which is one of discovery. With no house style, each new building has to be discovered and tailored for each project, rather than being allowed to become a repetition of previous designs.
I teach at the London School of Architecture and enjoy lecturing on the topics that interest me – housing, placemaking, the second life of buildings, art and colour.
