{"id":760877,"date":"2024-11-20T06:50:14","date_gmt":"2024-11-20T06:50:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/?p=760877"},"modified":"2024-11-20T14:03:40","modified_gmt":"2024-11-20T14:03:40","slug":"in-practice-moxon-turns-20","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/specification\/in-practice-moxon-turns-20","title":{"rendered":"In practice: Moxon turns 20"},"content":{"rendered":"

You\u2019re celebrating your 20th anniversary this year. What has been your biggest achievement so far?
\n<\/span><\/strong>The biggest achievement is surviving 20 years! No, joking apart, it\u2019s setting up a second office in Crathie in Aberdeenshire, and building it as client, contractor and end-occupier. At the time, it was the culmination of what the practice had been doing for 15 years. Though it\u2019s just one among many projects, it was specifically for us. To be in that position felt quite privileged.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Quarry Studios, Moxon Architects\u2019 second office in Aberdeenshire<\/p>\n\t

Source:Tim Soar<\/p><\/div>\n

You work both locally and on large infrastructure projects. How do you balance the two in the office and the scales you work across?
\n<\/span><\/strong>It doesn\u2019t matter what kind of project we\u2019re on \u2013 we love to design. We love to make things and be involved in that process.<\/p>\n

In our office there are reams of detail paper. On one there might be a sketch of a cable stay bridge and, next to it, a kitchen layout for a private residential project.\u00a0 <\/span>Design is scalable. We\u2019re architects but we\u2019re designers, really. And design is a process of understanding a problem and trying to address it.<\/p>\n

How one does that differs, whether through a bolt of inspiration or through iteration. Whether you\u2019re an architect, designer or working in graphics, you follow the same sort of process and have the same emotional and intellectual connection with what you\u2019re doing.<\/p>\n

It doesn\u2019t matter if it\u2019s a house extension in Wimbledon, a viaduct for HS2, a hotel in Scotland or a bridge in Norway \u2013 you\u2019re always dealing with the same range of issues, even on site.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Kulturbroene South Bridge, Oslo<\/p>\n\t

Source:Moxon Architects<\/p><\/div>\n

It\u2019s weirdly reassuring when you\u2019re working on projects across different scales. Yes, there are different contracts, different environments, different forms of procurement. But, fundamentally the process is the same.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

You can also get blinkered as designers. If you\u2019re stuck on one type of project for too long, you get blind to what you\u2019re seeing. So having a complete break and moving onto a completely different scale in a different sector is healthy for the creative process.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

What is your approach to infrastructure projects?
\n<\/span><\/strong>Bridges are emblematic of what an infrastructure project is and they are fascinating because they\u2019re very pure design problems. They can be instrumental in ways buildings tend not to be.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

They span a gap of \u2013 often \u2013 nature. And that\u2019s where the purity lies in it as a design problem. For us, we think there is a modern tendency to think of bridge design as an engineering problem. It is. But it is also an architectural problem. <\/span><\/p>\n

Going back in history, there was no distinction between engineering and architecture. For example, Thomas Telford was a stonemason, then an architect and then the first civil engineer in the modern world. And towards the end of his career, he was erecting buildings again.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

We\u2019re lucky as a practice to be able to work with some amazing structural engineers in the UK who also get involved in aesthetics. They\u2019re able to talk about architecture but we also talk about structural forms and how they\u2019re achieved \u2013 whether it\u2019s through efficiency or lightness.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Landscape is of paramount importance for us as a practice \u2013 whether its cityscape, rural or somewhere in-between. We\u2019re leading often big and expensive projects \u2013 both in terms of economic, opportunity, carbon and material cost \u2013 and they change landscapes for a long time.<\/p>\n

For us, that\u2019s the first responsibility: to look at what you\u2019re changing. You have a responsibility not to wreck the situation that you found.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s crucial for projects such as HS2. Our part of HS2 goes through the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. It\u2019s a huge project and it was important to think about how it would sit within the contours and vegetation.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Wendover Dean Viaduct, Wendover<\/p>\n\t

Source:Moxon Architects<\/p><\/div>\n

It is quite rare for architects to take on this type of scheme, do you think more should?
\n<\/span><\/strong>Unquestionably. We find ourselves competing against the same practices and know them very well. It\u2019s a small world. It makes for nice conversations and friendly competitiveness, which is enjoyable. But there\u2019s so much infrastructure work in the world and it would benefit from an architectural sensibility.<\/span><\/p>\n

The work that Sadie Morgan and her colleagues on the HS2 design panel board are doing, as well as the National Infrastructure Commission, has really moved the discussion on in this country a lot. It feels a natural way to go about these projects.<\/p>\n

What do you think is distinctive about the Moxon way of working?
\n<\/span><\/span><\/strong>Our priorities. And not being precious when we\u2019re working collaboratively. You\u2019re all part of a team. Architects can get hung up on authorship but, ultimately, it\u2019s always a team effort.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

There\u2019s always something that crops up on site that will affect even the biggest of projects. You expect it on house extensions; but it applies across the board. So that openness to teamwork is important. We\u2019re very much design-led. <\/span><\/p>\n

It goes back to the creative process and how we get there. It can be painful sometimes but at times a simple solution is obvious. Having an eye for something, no matter in what sector or at what scale, is a key principle for us. You have a duty to make it as good as it can be.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n