BUILD Q1 2019

9 Q1 2019 Build t Caruso St John architects, David Leech was a project archi- tect for the award-winning refurbishment of the Grade II* listed Tate Britain gallery at Millbank, from conception to completion. At Herzog & de Meuron architects David worked on the exten- sion to Tate Modern which opened in June 2016. David Leech Architects was set up to pursue contemporary projects across a diverse range of type, scale and budget from furniture to building. In the brief period since setting up, the practice has been short listed for a RIBA Housing design ideas competition and for the Pocket Living Com- munity centre and Nursery architecture competition in London. Since the completion of the office’s first built project for a family house on a complex inner suburban site in Dublin, Ireland, the practice has won numerous international awards for this build. In addition to this, the Arts Council has awarded the new practice a bursary grant for its research into the ‘richly economical’. In addition to practice, David Leech lectures and leads a design studio at the CASS School of Architecture at London Metropolitan University. The research ran through the studio and the projects developed here feed back into the critical thinking of the office, and are defined by their fascination with an architecture progressed through the applied arts & the experiential. David has been a visiting critic at a number of UK and Irish universities and is an external examiner at Sint Lucas, KU Leuven, Ghent, Belgium and University College Dublin, Ireland. The practice has a deep interest in the history of architecture, both in its’ continuity and disruption. The firm are interested in a playful architecture, and so they try to design buildings that do not unveil themselves at once but rather reveal themselves slowly over time. In that sense, the team en- joy ambiguity and vagueness and try to avoid overtly attaching to a style, movement or doctrine. An interest in making is reflected in the buildings the firm designs. As an architectural practice, the team at David Leech Architects pride them- selves on their knowledge of materials, construction technique and assem- bly – often working closely with fabricators from the earliest concept stages they allow the practicalities of the detail and construction inform and reflect the spatial and programmatic strategy of a project from the offset. Good architectural design is more than an empirical understanding of spatial arrangement but through material and assembly an atmosphere and character can transform a space from the functional and pragmatic to the delightful. With the rise of the modern movement in the C20th, functionalism and even minimalism has become the norm. However, David Leech Architects Driven by a Desire for Efficiency David Leech Architects is a new London based architectural practice established in 2016 by David Leech after 13 years working in several European practices. Recently, we profiled the firm to discover more about the award-winning services they provide on a daily basis to their clients. A take inspiration from the pre-modern; a door can be much more than a door, and a wall much more than a means to enclose space. The firm rejects the simplicity of the modernist extrusion of a plan and instead look at Alberti’s understanding of the wall and its possibilities to generate atmosphere. The office believes that context is not solely limited to site and place but should include financial, political and social relationships. Building in the city requires an inclusive approach often negotiating within a complex field of forces. In addition to this, the team at David Leech Architects believes that these challenges are not to be avoided, but rather these constraints should be embraced as opportunities to imagine an appropriate function and charac- ter. Often it is these limits that are the very drivers that make for a beautiful and joyful building. Looking ahead to what the future holds, the team at David Leech Architects will continue to deliver their extraordinary designs to clients, es- pecially following their recent success in BUILD’s 2018 Global Excellence Awards. Contact: David Leech Company: David Leech Architects Address: Studio C112, Lighthouse Studios, 89a Shachlewell Lane, London, E8 2EB, UK Telephone: 07515 253 260 Web Address: www.david-leech.co.uk Instagram: @davidleecharch