It is ten years since Wells Mackereth were identified by Blueprint magazine as part of British architecture's ‘new wave’, and five since the practice was first published in Architectural Review for its fine bar and restaurant in West Street, Covent Garden. What the design media had spotted was an architecture of considered (and beautiful) materials, attention to detail, and a sensibility to space and light which has been the hallmark of the practice throughout its life.
In the spectrum of architectural practice, WM sit very firmly at the smart end; we are talking about Mayfair, not the Old Kent Road; grunge is not their natural territory, and in a culture where the mutually exclusive is assumed to be part of the natural order, we don't expect them to be standard-bearers for affordable housing or projects suckled on public subsidy.
This, of course, is a pity. One of the drearier assumptions in British public life is that the architecture of social engagement should eschew wit, colour and invention in favour of everyday monotony – as though aesthetic judgement were an offence against propriety (or economy). What we find in the wide range of work by Sally and James is an attitude to consumerism (and consumption) which elides distinctions between function and enjoyment, since enjoyment is part of living in all its aspects.
In the same way, the distinction between interior and exterior architecture becomes blurred by the integrity of design thinking: looking at the work on this site, one gets the sense that the designs which have emerged are in some way inevitable. This may be because the inspiration may have come from a thought, an analogy, an object – an informing idea which makes the resulting architecture coherent. Not all clients are interested in the detail of those ideas, assuming that architectural creativity is the outcome of fees paid. Some architects, though, are more creative than others, so enjoy what you see here.
© 2007 Wells Mackereth.