RIBA Practice Role Model
Finely crafted architecture, landscape and art.
Award-winning designs inspired by nature.
Founded in 2002 by Mike Tonkin and Anna Liu on a storytelling methodology and passion for technical innovation. We answer the unique needs of our aspirational clients through an emphatic search for optimal design solutions. A UK multi-disciplinary design studio, we have been delivering award-winning architecture, sculpture, and landscape, winning 23 RIBA Awards in 22 years. Our work has been described as both puritanical and fantastical. We put emphasis on place-making, connecting people to nature, and pioneering innovative construction techniques. Our portfolio spans varying scales and typologies, from London’s prestigious Grosvenor Square to a 40-metre tall 6mm thick structural flue tower to a fully patented airway stent developed with medical experts.
We apply a refined set of principles to every project to ensure our work is consistently exemplary. Each is based upon lessons learnt from nature. Collectively, these principles form the pillars of our practice.
nature
Nature gives us elements generously for free: sunlight, rainfall, wind, growth, elements that bring architectural materiality to life. Nature awakens our senses through an exuberance of sight, sound, smell, touch, taste. nature restores our connection to the rhythm of time: daily, monthly, seasonal, annual. nature rekindles joy.
storytelling
Through story-telling, we uncover the distinct character of each landscape, each community, each place, and search for simple stories to bring conceptual clarity to our design. We aspire for each of our projects to be unique, evocative, long-lasting, and to touch our hearts.
technical innovation
Our technical innovations aspire to the same excellence. we solve problems, we minimise waste, using the least resources to achieve the most. We embrace the power of the computer and new construction methods, to pioneer works of architecture and art that are true to our times.
The Shell Lace Structure technique was discovered by Tonkin Liu in 2009 through empirical experimentation that combined knowledge of mollusc shell geometries with the traditional craft of tailoring.
In conjunction with empirical lessons, digital design and fabrication tools make possible a variety of structural types. These active surface structures bring together the conventional engineering fields of shell design and folded plate structures to create strong, ultra-light, free organic forms.
Promenade of Light, London, photo by Keith Collie
‘The design work Tonkin Liu provided for the project was to a very high standard and highly innovative, overcoming numerous difficulties associated with the delivery of this complex project.’
- Kevin O'Leary, Islington Council
'John (Sampson) and I have so appreciated Anna's interest and support over the past few years - she's been a big inspiration and role model to the students and has been so generous with her time and feedback.'
- Joint Director of MArch, Sheffield School of Architecture
‘It is reassuring to know that Tonkin Liu always searches for the most life-affirming outcome for any project, with which it is confronted.
Their work deserves greater prominence and is a cause for celebration among those who care about innovation.’
- Professor Don Gray, Kent School of Architecture and Planning
what’s going on in the studio
