Meet: Ben Adams Architects


Introducing the London-based firm whose projects include workspaces for two major UK practices, Feilden Clegg Bradley's London office and WilkinsonEyre's design studio


Blueprint

Who: Directors Ben Adams, Nicholas Jewell, Julia Hamson and Michael Wilson Katsibas, plus 31 members of staff What: Architecture and interior design Where: Borough, London When: Founded 2010

Who are the architects that other architects seek out for themselves when they need to reinvent their offices? Ben Adams Architects (BAA) has had the pleasure of creating work spaces for two major UK practices -- Feilden Clegg Bradley's London office and Wilkinson Eyre's design studio -- and is starting on the UK Office of global practice Hassell (it also made the shortlist to redesign the RIBA's own Portland Place HQ last year). Ben Adams comments: 'Architects...cannot always distance themselves from their own good and bad habits. It is valuable to have an independent designer to help reflect on their own assumptions about design.'

(L-R) Hamson, Jewell, Wilson Katsibas, Adams
(L-R) Hamson, Jewell, Wilson Katsibas, Adams

Born out of Adams' earlier practice, Nissen Adams, BAA emerged in 2010 in the recession. The first 18 months was all about 'helping people with complex issues and resolving messes and picking up projects that other architects had got stuck with'. Its talent for enlightened retrofit soon yielded commissions from architecturally astute developer Derwent London (seven high-impact and resource-friendly retrofits to date) followed by others looking to marry the best qualities of old buildings with modern architectural sensibilities, from upmarket domestic to high-end retail (Royal Mosa) and culture (Phillips de Pury).

But Chiquet House showed what the practice could do from scratch with a difficult brief and a small plot: a compact house raised 2.3m above the ground on stilts, which maximises light, space, vistas, acoustics and -- most importantly -- flood-proofing. Based on a winning entry to an Aviva competition, it was subsequently built in 2011 for a private client, for the modest sum of £400,000. Says Adams: 'Doing something unusual like that was a good moment. We were selected as part of the "AJ 40 under 40", which helps give clients a sense that you are young and exciting.' The research the practice did into flood-proofing has formed the basis of an ongoing research culture. Says Adams: 'We invest money in all sorts of non-profitable things and research ought to be one of them because it will bear fruit in all sorts of ways.'

New home for Orange Box, in Clerkenwell
New home for Orange Box, in Clerkenwell

BAA's investigations into tall buildings, resourceful urbanism and the evolution of shopping centres -- director Nicholas Jewell is fascinated by the new typologies for shopping centres in China, which marry Western retail architecture with Eastern traditions of interior social spaces -- has already led to partnerships and proposed collaborations with other international architecture firms, as well as a joint project with one of the leading London architecture colleges and its Chinese associates. Nothing if not ambitious, BAA is contemplating setting up an LA office to see if European models of careful husbandry of buildings and streetscapes can be brought to impact positively on American cities.

Stair detail at Feilden Clegg Bradley’s workspace
Stair detail at Feilden Clegg Bradley's workspace

Intellectual curiosity remains a key part of BAA's ethos. Adams says: 'We've always been keen to protect the life of ideas and make sure those ideas that inform a project in the beginning remain through its life, as long as they're good ones. We keep a robustness and analytical quality to what we do. What we do is different... as we keep those two strands running in parallel and don't compromise them. If someone has a good idea part way through a project and it seems like the right thing to do, we will adjust.'

Victory House, a retrofit for developer Derwent London
Victory House, a retrofit for developer Derwent London

Adams has sought to emulate the business model of his first employer, AHMM, by 'doing the work that comes along that we find interesting, and if that means we need to be bigger or smaller we'll adjust accordingly'. In four years, the practice has grown from seven to 35 people, with three other directors promoted internally by Adams. Alongside the retrofits, the practice is beginning to win 'juicier commissions', including a new studio space on the site of an old car park in Clerkenwell, which will be a home for high-end contract furniture maker Orange Box. There's also a new hotel for Nobu in Shoreditch, which Adams hopes 'will change the way we're perceived as a practice'.








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