‘Our House’, the working title for the project, is the culmination of a wider initiative to transform the practice that began five years ago. Our ambitions extended from a succession plan through to the re-branding and repositioning of the firm, creating a new platform from which our inherent creativity could flourish, and securing a sustainable, progressive future for the practice. In order to generate our brief we undertook extensive consultation, research and analysis both internally and externally with partners and clients over a 2 year period. This included design charrettes attended by 95% of staff, client interviews, workshops and questionnaires, and pilot studies on different ways of working. One of the fundamental aims of the project was to design a new studio that was created by the collective, in order to harness and support our shared talent. The feedback from the consultations and research gave us a very rich picture of how the practice is perceived and the impact different ways of working has on our design output. We married these findings with a detailed analysis of our previous workplace to fully understand how space was being occupied, how we could intensify use and how we could best capture the energy of the studio. The key drivers for the design brief were: To create an architectural and design studio experience that expresses our belief in design and craft To showcase our creativity and skill and that of others in the wider community To implement the project with minimum disruption to staff The concept is “120 opportunities for collaboration”. The principle is that the space should be transparent, free-flowing and flexible, accommodating various modes of working and ‘playing’. This includes quiet task work, group design reviews and crits, informal meetings, exhibitions, talks and events, alongside the potential to close down different spaces for more formal meetings, private conversations or reviews. This ability to open and close spaces without losing transparency creates a diverse range of working environments thereby supporting collaborative ways of working. Transparency is key to the transformation as it enables better communication, knowledge-sharing and the inclusion of all – both staff and visitors - in the space. The angled freestanding gallery display panels act as a subtle screen to the main workspace, creating a degree of separation while enjoying the energy of the studio. This gallery not only acts as a place for work – drawings, photographs, models and material samples - to be displayed; it has also been detailed to allow for easily changeable exhibitions. The front face of the display walls that line the main circulation route is used for more formal exhibitions, while the other side, facing the main studio, is a magnetic board that is used to pin up in progress drawings and images. Acoustics were a key consideration in our design. Our team found that the previous office had a lack of quiet space and many felt it was too noisy therefore we developed the simple yet effective wall cladding that runs around the perimeter of the studio. The perforated milled aluminium sheets have a twenty millimetre-thick black acoustic panel behind them and significantly reduce the reverberation of the space. The wall lining runs into the spaces that can be used for formal meetings to create a much calmer and quieter environment and the use of cork flooring throughout has added to this absorption.