Studio

Founded in 2006 by Kevin Carmody and Andy Groarke, the studio has developed a reputation for designing and delivering distinctive, well-made buildings within the UK and Europe for a wide range of public, residential, institutional and commercial clients. These include, museums and galleries, national archives and libraries, performance spaces and event pavilions, offices, and buildings for education. We work in ecologically and historically sensitive sites, including National Parks, city-centre conservation areas and UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

Our projects have gained international recognition from awards, including shortlists for the RIBA Stirling Prize and EUmies Award. Our work has been published by world-renowned architectural monographs, including 2G, El Croquis, AMAG and A+U.

How we work

Our dynamic team enables us to work on projects within diverse contexts and scales for a range of clients and end-users. From a new-build pavilion at the Dulwich Picture Gallery, to a major decarbonisation masterplan for the British Library and the redevelopment of large-scale listed buildings in the City of London.

Our design process is rigorous and collaborative. We begin with thorough and structured research into a project’s existing site and brief to uncover its full potential. We listen carefully to the needs of commissioners and end-users and facilitate open discussions with creative and technical experts to enrich the design process at all stages. For larger-scaled projects, we have extensive experience engaging with multiple stakeholders to undertake complex design briefs.

We interrogate design ideas by sketching, drawing and making physical models. We use our studio environment for creative and technical research and discuss the development of design ideas through pin-ups and studio-wide reviews. At all project stages we use a range of technology and software to work collaboratively with design teams and consultants, developing and delivering projects using BIM.

Teaching and research

In addition to our studio work, we are committed to teaching in architecture schools and developing research networks with universities to enrich our design process and reveal new points of reference.

The studio has taught at architecture schools in the UK, Europe and the US, including Harvard University, Graduate School of Design, Yale School of Architecture, Cornell University (Ithaca), The Bartlett School of Architecture (University College London), The Royal College of Art and The University of Stuttgart. Members of the studio are regular tutors and guest critics at universities across the UK, including the London School of Architecture, Sheffield University and Westminster University. We work with local schools and colleges to offer work experience placements, and our architects hold workshops with Speakers for Schools and the Open City Accelerate programme.

Through our research we have partnered with Ghent University, Sogent and Imperial College London to develop alternative models for low carbon building materials.

Designing for the climate crisis

We recognise that the built environment contributes significantly to the effects of the climate crisis and loss of the natural world. We are committed to designing buildings which limit their impact on the world around them and are resilient and adaptable to economic and environmental evolution.

Reducing carbon in construction and in use is embedded in our design process. We have extensive experience leading design teams to create environmentally and socially responsible buildings.

We evaluate our designs in terms of how well they belong to their site and context, the materials and resources to build them and how well they perform within the environment. We use whole life carbon assessments to measure the long-term performance of our buildings.

Through our work with technical experts and material scientists we have delivered several innovative approaches to carbon reduction, including a low-energy archive building for the British Library and new circular building materials for the Design Museum Gent.

Awards

Clients