Andrew Ingham, principal architect at Denizen Works, is known for his creative designs and contextually sensitive approach. Ingham has been recognized with multiple awards, including Architect of the Year 2022, Individual House Architect of the Year 2022, and Small Project Architect of the Year 2022. His firm has also received three RIBA National Awards, RIBA London Awards, two RIAS Awards, and the Stephen Lawrence Prize.
Notable projects by Ingham include ‘Hundred Acre Wood’ and House No.7 on Tiree, which blend traditional forms with contemporary aesthetics. In this interview, Ingham discusses his journey into architecture, design philosophy, and the importance of understanding the site and client needs. He emphasizes the role of collaboration and creative use of materials in his projects, addressing contemporary challenges such as climate change and sustainability.
What inspired you to become an architect?
I had always enjoyed designing and making things when I was young and I remember being captivated by the technical drawings of the extension and loft conversion we had to our family home. I went to university knowing nothing about architects or architecture but fell in love with the education which was so expansive and far-reaching that it allowed me to bring in my interests outside of buildings into the creative process—my first year of study fundamentally changed how I looked at the world and inspired me to pursue a career as an architect.
How would you describe your design philosophy?
Our design philosophy is based on an understanding and appreciation of the site and its physical and historic context. There are no preconceived ideas about what a project should be or look like, and it’s only once we’ve spent time understanding the site and our client’s brief that we begin to design. Our favorite definition of a ‘denizen’ is ‘a plant naturalized on foreign soil,’ and we think this resonates with what we hope to achieve when we make a new building in the landscape. By drawing on forms and materials familiar to the context, we help to embed our architecture in its new home.
What is your favorite project and why does it stand out?
My favorite project is always the one I’m working on at any given moment because I end up spending all of my time dreaming about it… Our recently completed project, ‘Hundred Acre Wood,’ is a special project for me and the studio and encapsulates lots of ideas which reflect the ethos and spirit of the practice. The design was developed over a long period of time in close collaboration with our clients, and the result is a singular building that draws on the heritage of Scottish architecture (Iron-age brochs, Tower Houses, and Charles Rennie Mackintosh) while reflecting the strong personalities of our clients. The main hall was designed to accommodate an 18ft Christmas tree, and walking into the building to see the tree installed for the first time was one of my favorite moments as an architect.
What is your favorite architectural detail?
One of my favorite details at Hundred Acre Wood was the cladding, which is formed from recycled TV screens collected from recycling hubs around Scotland. The material was advertised as a landscape aggregate, but inspired by traditional Scottish harling, we reimagined it as a building material and developed a new application for it. The aggregate, formed from the crushed TV screens, has a mixture of pale grey to cool blue tones, reminiscent of a moody Scottish sky. We developed two aggregate mixes which were used on different parts of the elevation to reinforce the sense of a carved solid, with the main external walls clad in a 10-20mm mix and the ‘cut-aways’ and chamfered reveals clad in a smaller 2-10mm mix. This subtle change in the scale of the aggregate creates an interesting effect on site, capturing the light and rain in different ways and contributing to the changeable character of the building throughout the day.
Do you have a favorite material?
We try and use materials in new and innovative ways and see every project as an opportunity to reimagine the material context in an unfamiliar way. We often use the material to tell a story about space: the whisky store at Hundred Acre Wood, for example, is clad in copper and charred oak which reference the whisky-making process which uses copper stills and charred oak casks. If I had to pick one material though, it is hard to see past timber: it’s sustainable, incredibly versatile, and has beautiful natural properties. We’re currently designing a treehouse in a woodland setting where all of the structure and 80% of the interior finishes will be constructed from timber sourced from the woods.
What is your process for starting a new project?
Whenever we secure a new project, we begin by sharing the brief with the whole studio, giving everyone the opportunity to spend some time considering an approach. My personal process always begins with a period of time trying to understand the spirit of a site – what are its distinct characteristics and qualities that make it special? Through sketching, usually with a thick pencil, I’ll look for an idea that is clear, talks to the spirit of the site, and can be represented in a simple diagrammatic form. The most exciting part of the process though is when the studio comes together to share initial thoughts – the ideas always become stronger and richer, and by the end of a session, we know we have a sound foundation from which to start translating the conceptual ideas into architectural responses.
How do you balance creativity and practicality in your designs?
The key to the success of our projects is a strong conceptual idea that can withstand the rigors of the process required to realize a built project, including planning, technical constraints, budget, etc. We marry this with a very pragmatic approach to making buildings, from understanding how they are occupied to how they weather over time. We often work in exposed landscapes with harsh weather conditions, so we employ robust detailing that takes lessons from the local architecture.
What role does the surrounding environment play in your architectural projects?
Context is central to our design approach, and we look for the beauty in places and buildings that would often be overlooked as inspiration for a contemporary architecture project. Our first project on Tiree, House No.7, took inspiration from the agricultural sheds and workshops on the island and made an argument that these were just as important to the character of the architectural context as the famous Blackhouse cottages. Corrugated metal and agricultural forms were re-imagined with refined detailing and elevated to create something that was both familiar and unexpected.
What strategies do you employ to ensure your projects resonate with both individual clients and the wider community?
Our designs have humble origins: each building is shaped by stories of place and people to feel secure and fitting to its context. Hundred Acre Wood is a good example of a project that speaks clearly of the clients’ personalities but is shaped by forms and spaces familiar to the wider landscape.
How do you approach working with clients to understand their needs and visions?
Every client is different, so our approach differs from project to project and is shaped to best respond to the way that most suits their personalities. On our residential projects, it’s really important to understand (and challenge) how our clients live and how they would like to live, so we like to spend time getting to know them and building trust. For most residential clients, a new house will be the only building project they undertake during their lives, so particularly as the projects we design strive for the extraordinary, it is really important that our clients can place their full trust in us to deliver the vision. In addition to the functional brief, we often ask clients for more abstract reference points of something that is special to them, such as a book or painting, as a way of introducing an additional conceptual thread to the design approach to create a more esoteric level of enjoyment to the project.
What architectural trends or movements do you find most inspiring?
The most pressing issue in our profession is our response to climate change, and I think this is giving rise to some really interesting ideas about materials: where they come from and how they are used. There are also bigger, philosophical conversations happening about how we best respond to the issues surrounding climate change which is leading to innovations in the way we practice as architects.
What advice would you give to aspiring architects?
Beauty can be found everywhere: look for your inspiration beyond the glossy pages of design magazines.
