About

Founded in 2016 by Daniel Smith and Michael Young, the studio has developed a reputation for designing and delivering distinctive, well-made buildings within the UK for a wide range of public, residential and commercial clients. These include, bespoke one-off houses, hotels, large scale social housing schemes, event pavilions, 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 national recognition from awards, including RIBA, LABC and civic trust awards. Our work has been published by renowned architectural publications and books such as The Architects Journal, Building Design, Dezeen, Grand Designs Magazine and 21st Century Houses: RIBA Award-Winning Homes

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 houses to a major masterplan and the redevelopment of large-scale listed buildings. 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.

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 including, Liverpool University, LJMU, UCLAN, Bartlett School of Architecture, Westminster University.

Awards
Housing Design Awards 2017
RIBA NW 2019
RIBA Emerging Practice of the Year 2019
MSA One Off House Built Award 2023
Civic Trust Award 2023
LABC North West Award 2024 – Best Large Social Housing Development
RIBA NW 2025