As a practicing architect I don’t hold with a culture which encourages architects to use commissions to explore their own artistic agendas. I believe that architecture is above all a practical art, with close affinities to craft; that our creative skills and imaginations should be used to answer user’s needs; that the best designs are rooted in functionality and that construction should be simple and logical and should inform the way buildings look.
Having designed a wide range of award winning buildings I now act as an advisor to clients, helping them with many aspects of building projects: selecting an architect, writing a brief and monitoring the design team’s work. My experience includes new buildings and restoration of historic and 20th Century listed buildings.
I co-founded the architecture practice, Berman Guedes Stretton, in 1984. We developed a reputation for working creatively and respecting the historic contexts of Oxford and Cambridge colleges, where I headed a team delivering projects ranging from careful modifications to sensitive interiors to complex large-scale construction. Working to retain the qualities of historic architecture while creating contemporary facilities demands careful design based on an understanding of historic buildings and construction as well as the ability to negotiate with many stakeholders. The practice I founded and lead until 2016 won many awards for new and restoration work.
I am a Design Council “Built Environment Expert” and act on a number of design review panels. Since leaving Berman Guedes Stretton I have been given several honorary positions with Oxford colleges, and advised as a member of their building committees.
My understanding and interest in architectural history has enabled me to initiate and edit books on architecture, to lecture at schools in the UK and USA and to contribute articles to a number of professional journals. I initiated the AJ Writing Prize to encourage young architects to think about the nature of the architects’ role in society.
Apart from designing and history, my other passions are working with clay and planting trees.