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Architects Directory 2009

 

Liddicoat & Goldhill

United Kingdom

BIOGRAPHY AND PRACTICE

David Liddicoat and Sophie Goldhill met at London's Royal College of Art. In 2007, they founded Liddicoat & Goldhill in order to build an experimental house on a small plot of land in Camden. Liddicoat studied at Cambridge before spending time in Daniel Libeskind's Berlin office, while after studies at the Slade and the Bartlett, Goldhill went on to work with Foster, EDAW and Waugh Thistleton. The couple are both in their late 20s, are married and work out of a studio in Whitechapel.

The studio takes a pragmatic view of modern practice. 'We were born into Thatcher's free market, and trained during the late New Labour property boom: we are wary of the cult of newness. Ecological and economic pressures necessarily mean we must learn to live with less.' As a result, they aim to 'learn by doing', starting with private houses. They're also admirers of eccentric, emotional design (they cite Lautner and Atelier Bow Wow) as well as the 'deft tailoring' of Vivienne Westwood, amongst others.

THE HOUSE

The Open Book House is a variation on the traditional London terrace, a design that promotes 'different modes of living.' This means a rejection of that modernist staple, the free plan, in favour of a house with ten rooms, 'each designed to have a distinct atmosphere, not a predetermined purpose.' It also acknowledges the importance of inclusive social movements to help meet environmental challenges. 'So our house loves its neighbours and forms a street of facades cranked towards the milky London sunlight.'

THE FUTURE

The architects are working on several other structures in the same street as their own, and are also exploring a 'new micro-house typology,' using pre-fab timber technology.

www.liddicoatgoldhill.com