Christmas Party - Wreath Making Workshop

Just before we all broke up for the Christmas holidays we had a party at our new studio. Part of the reason we are so excited at the new studio space is that it provides us with room to be a little more hands-on and practical - for example we now have a dedicated area to make models, a great surface for printing inks on and even room to set up the drawing board!

We thought that a good way to celebrate Christmas in the new studio and provide a first opportunity for ‘making’ would be to have a practical Christmas party. So we invited the wonderful artist and florist Grace A Williams to our studio to run a wreath making workshop. Her work is closely tied into the crafts, practices and industries traditionally thought of as being in the female arena and floristry has been a part of some of her pieces in the past, for more information on her work please visit:

https://www.grace-a-williams.com

The day started early at the New Covent Garden flower markets in Battersea to buy the raw materials - a bustling working market full of boisterous characters and good cheer. Then onto Borough markets to pick up the other raw material required for a Christmas party - food and booze - before heading back to our studio for the workshop.

Whilst we were all novices and starting from scratch was a lot harder than it first appeared, over the course of a few hours we had a great laugh and produced some very fine looking wreathes to adorn our front doors and tables over the holidays. A few pictures can be found here:

Studio 'Shop Window'

One of the things we are most excited about at the new studio is our ‘shop windows’. It has made a big difference to the atmosphere within the practice to see the world go by during the day and we really want to start a rolling series of window displays to give something back to the street scene in our new home.

With Christmas being the first major occasion since moving in it was decided the first scene for the window display should be a festive feature.

Earlier in the year we had a rebranding exercise that resulted in our fabulous new website and some rather funky business cards that are inspired by origami techniques. Unfortunately since moving our surplus business cards became defunct due to the change of address but Clare had the idea to use them to create a series of mobiles within the window. One window features falling snow and business card stars whilst the other window has a minimal business card Christmas tree.

We think the results are very cool and a really good re-use of our old business cards that would otherwise have been thrown away. It has been particularly enjoyable to see passers-by come and press their noses right against the glass to take a closer look which hopefully is a good sign for future window displays; Watch this Space!

Settling into our New Studio

We moved into our fantastic new studio a few weeks ago and have been getting used to working in the environment. Here are a first few images of the space…

We have moved - first pin up in new studio!

We have made the move from our old offices in London Bridge to our own studio in Brockley. We are very excited to be in our new space and look forward to exploring the potential opportunities being here may provide. We’ve already had a few pin ups around the meeting table - here is Luke presenting a little taste of some of the work his students have been doing at Birmingham School of Architecture to the rest of the team.

MW Architects wins Ultimate Luxury Bathroom Design of the Year 2018!

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Recently our Luxury Master Suite (see: https://www.mwarchitects.co.uk/blog/2018/7/9/master-suite) won the Ultimate Luxury Bathroom Design of the Year category at the Designer Kitchen & Bathroom Awards 2018. 

We were delighted that the judges recognised the careful process of keeping the spatial design fairly simple to allow the natural quality of the materials and the skilful craft of their assembly to be the main event. 

Here is what the judges had to say about the design:

The Luxury Bathroom category is always a great pleasure for the judges because for the designers it’s a test - having a huge budget doesn’t necessarily mean great design. What we saw this year is what I would describe as restraint. It is hard if you have a huge budget to exercise restraint…the projects we enjoyed and got through the shortlist were the ones where the money had been spent on the materials and then the materials were left to speak for themselves. 

The winner of the Luxury Bathroom category actually stood out to us as being a superb use and control of light and space and materials. The materials were so beautifully selected and so fabulously executed that they also enhance the use of the space, they create an ambience in the space that is warm but I would say it is contemporary. So the bathroom really is exuberant, and it is luxurious.

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New Studio Space taking shape

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There are exciting times ahead for MW Architects as we are about to move into a new studio space in South East London. We are currently hard at work fitting out the new studio to provide it with desk spaces, a meeting area, a kitchen and a model making workshop. We are super excited about the move and the impact working in the new space will have on the way we operate. Watch this space for news on our new studio which will be unveiled in the next few weeks. 

New Architects 3

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New Architects 3 is the definitive survey of the best British Architects to have set up practice in the ten years since 2005. The third book in the Architecture Foundation's highly influential series, it feature close to 100 practices, selected by a jury of leading critics and curators. As a portrait of the emerging talent in one of the worlds most consistently influential architectural cultures, New Architects 3 casts light on the future of architecture in the UK and beyond. The book features more than 450 illustrations of the selected practices' work and is introduced by the Pritzker Architects Prize laureate, Norman Foster. 

We were extremely pleased that we were able to share some of our work alongside some of Britains other best young architecture practices. We were able to share briefly our Essex Mews and Cecelia Road projects, which you can check out fully on our projects page. 

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The Housing Design Handbook

by David Levitt and Jo McCafferty

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Everyone deserves a decent and affordable home, a truth (almost) universally acknowledged. But housing in the UK has been in a state of crisis for decades, with too few homes built, too often of dubious quality, and costing too much to buy, rent or inhabit. It doesn’t have to be like this. Bringing together a wealth of experience from a wide range of housing experts, this completely revised edition of The Housing Design Handbook provides an authoritative, comprehensive and systematic guide to best practice in what is perhaps the most contentious and complex field of architectural design.

This book sets out design principles for all the essential components of successful housing design – including placemaking, typologies and density, internal and external space, privacy, security, tenure, and community engagement – illustrated with case studies of schemes by architecture practices working across the UK and continental Europe.

Written by David Levitt and Jo McCafferty – two recognised authorities in the field – and with contributions from more than twenty other leading practitioners, The Housing Design Handbook is an essential reference for professionals and students in architecture and design as well as for government bodies, housing associations and other agencies involved in housing.

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