Process: Seven guiding principles

With our bright yellow tables where we sketch and explore ideas, a large open kitchen and bar where we eat and drink together, and outdoor space on both sides of the Studio, we’re the opposite of a hushed and heads-down office. We strike up conversations easily, gather round the tables spontaneously, and frequently head outside for fresh inspiration.

Our walls are never blank but filled with the things we’re thinking about, and there’s usually something about to happen – a drawing class, a Tai Chi session, a writing workshop, or one of us giving a talk. There’s space for each of us to have ambition and to do things differently. And there’s always space for new voices.

Since the day we started, we’ve held tightly to the mantra ‘the best idea wins’. Whoever brings the best idea to the table, we champion it – and, through our Showroom, the thought leadership that drives our work becomes part of the broader debate about our places and cities. We hold talks, show films and host events, and people are welcome to come in off the street to see our exhibitions. In short, our Showroom is where we lay out our stall and share our work.

Once we look beyond the ‘red-line boundaries’ – the edges of political responsibility, professional remit, ownership or geography – we see the connections. By erasing these and working together across disciplines, we can begin to imagine the potential. We’ll have brought the different elements back together – urban strategy and architectural identity, narrative poetry and lived experience. To achieve real change, we have to step out of our professional silos and our immediate surroundings. It’s never just about a specific building; it’s always about place.

Why do the characterful stories of our childhood morph into the dull reports of our adulthood? Without a narrative behind it, a neighbourhood framework is just a collection of buildings, and stories are as important to us now as they were to our earliest ancestors. Through stories, we put down roots in the communities we work with, and people begin to see how they fit within a place, which in turns gives them a sense of belonging. And a strong, binding narrative at the level of neighbourhood experience allows stories about the wider city to unfold.

Our open-minded, multi-layered approach drives our design process, and there are no separate departments in our Studio. We thrive on keeping our conversations wide open so that one discipline learns from another, and we instinctively feed off each other’s knowledge and energy to solve problems and do the best work we can. We’re now bringing others into the studio – graphic, interior and product designers, and artists and makers. The wider the conversation, the more we learn from each other and the better the places we create.

Chance encounters have taken us down unbeaten paths, conversations have taken unexpected turns, and happenstance has given us unlikely opportunities. It’s a mindset that allows us to see connections and possibilities where others might not. We’ll build bridges where others see barriers, and we’ll always find a way to stitch things together, even when logic suggests otherwise. Serendipity keeps us in tune with the process of urban innovation. It means we never get stuck.

It’s also about social value and economics, inclusion and diversity. We play our part in our community, working with schools, encouraging young people and mentoring students. And with one eye focused on the future, we look to the past with the other, valuing the work of those who have gone before us. If we can make use of the embodied energy of existing structures to give a building a second life, we will. Instead of talking about ‘tabula rasa’, we talk of ‘tabula plena’ – a full table rather than a clean slate.