Celebrating emerging architects

Buro Happold

04/12/2012 Written by: Andrew Best No comments

Last year we collaborated with our friends in London’s Dutch Embassy to organise and host the Three Nations: Emerging Architects conference. We invited 10 practices each from England, Scotland and the Netherlands to a very successful one day event designed to foster collaboration and share experiences across the three different markets.

As a spin-off we are now hosting an exhibition series which sees the architectural practices who attended the conference invited to exhibit their work in the reception area of our 17 Newman Street offices in London. For each of these exhibitions we host a private viewing for both Buro Happold and the featured architects’ guests.

The first in this series was Nex Architects who presented a beautifully designed exhibition showcasing an impressive range of work. Currently on display is Studio Octopi (until the New Year), who have taken the opportunity to show their bespoke furniture alongside their wonderful building projects.

So why does a company like Buro Happold hand over their reception space to these young architectural practices? To me it’s a win-win situation. The exhibitions provide a frequently changing visual and creative stimulus for the Buro Happold team as they pass through reception, and help keep us in touch with smaller projects. The architectural practices have a great opportunity to show off their work to our staff and many visitors.

But the real icing on the cake for me is the private viewing, where I always come across fascinating people. Not only do I get to meet some very interesting potential clients and great builders, I also get to meet some of our engineering rivals invited by our exhibiting architects. My current favourite party-goers are Molly Dempsey and Di Romer-Lee, respectively the niece of Alan Dempsey from Nex, and the mother of Chris from Studio Octopi.

Molly rates a special mention for the charming smile that only a very cute one year old can produce, and Di for her fascinating conversation. Di and I ended up discussing dude ranches in mid-west USA which still makes me smile. Quite how we got there is lost in the mists of time (and alcohol I suspect)! The fact that this conversation took place in my office at a party that I’d organised reminds me of why I like my job!

Let’s see if our next exhibitors Haptic, OBR and 7N Architects can keep up the high standard.