Architecture
Buildings for a better future
As architects, we see no compromise between good design and designing for a better future. Our buildings are about material, light and time. Whether a home, a school, or a piece of city, they function beautifully. They’re finished to the highest of specifications. They age well and they are designed to work with the planet, not against it.Partnering with private clients, enlightened developers, and local authorities, we have demonstrated that it is possible to build beautifully and meet low and net zero carbon targets. We design buildings that are informed by the hyperlocal – local materials, local history, the wants and needs of local people. We champion a circular economy, one that wastes nothing, and that finds value in often overlooked resources, be they materials, buildings, or people. We work in challenging, protected, and sensitive environments. We deconstruct to reconstruct, preferring to adapt and retrofit rather than pull down.
In short, we design beautiful buildings, places and pieces of city for a better future. For work past and present, please see Projects.
Circular Economy Specialists
Strategising for a net-zero carbon 2030
BakerBrown's long experience in design and delivery of low carbon sustainable projects has seen us help developers, fellow practitioners and local authorities begin to meet the challenges that a climate and ecological emergency present us all. Predicated on driving change, BakerBrown can provide our clients with a practical roadmap for a low carbon sustainable future embracing the challenges presented by the systems change required to design out waste and exist in harmony with the natural world as an authentic 'Circular Economy'.
Services include the identification of closed loop circular economies such as the adaptive reuse of existing buildings instead of demolishing them, quantifying of physical, digital and social resources on and near to the site for re-use - a process we call 'Resource Mapping'. We develop strategies for everything from whole-life carbon footprint reduction to transitioning from linear to circular economy systems to creating buildings as 'material banks' for future buildings. We enable out clients to make their new place out of their old place, to 'mine the Anthropocene'.
Critically, if we are to reverse climate change and the ecological crisis, then it's vital that our future cities are as delightful to live in as they are sustainable and climate resilient. Both theoretician and practitioner, we offer a unique service to the UK and one which is rare across the rest of the world.
For more information on our consultancy services, please contact us or download our Circular Economy Primer.
Speaking
Communicating for a green tomorrow
The current climate and ecological crises have left many deeply pessimistic about the future. We feel differently. If the built environment is responsible for nearly half the world’s carbon emissions, then it also holds the key to creating a better future.
We have spent our working lives exploring that future. Lead by architect, author and environmental activist Duncan Baker-Brown, we are on a mission to communicate a simple message: we humans – and particularly those of us who work in the built environment – have the knowledge and the ability to design our way out of the crisis. Time is of the essence.
A world-renowned academic and practitioner, Duncan is frequently invited to speak at symposiums in the UK, Europe and Australasia, as well as at TEDx, at conferences, and on television, influential podcasts, and the radio. Held in high esteem by his peers, Duncan was elected to the RIBA Council in 2020.
For more on our keynote speaker services, please contact Duncan Baker-Brown.