Information about the speakers
Simon Allford is a founding director of Allford Hall Monaghan Morris. He leads a studio of two hundred architects working around the world on the design and construction of projects that reflect his belief that outstanding architecture must last through time and accommodate different uses to those that called it into being, whilst offering an extraordinary and delightful backdrop to the theatre of everyday life.
Simon works on a wide range of scales and typologies. Notable projects include the Angel, Tea and Yellow Buildings as well as Adelaide Wharf, the Saatchi Gallery and Chobham Academy. He recently completed White Collar Factory on Old Street, offices for Google and YouTube at Pancras Square, a tower at 240 Blackfriars, three mixed use projects on Regent Street for the Crown Estate, and an academic building for the University of Amsterdam. He is currently working on projects around the UK, in Europe, the US and India.
Simon is a frequent teacher, judge of major awards and competitions, a writer, and critic. He is currently a visiting professor at the GSD Harvard, and a Trustee of the London School of Architecture and Chickenshed Theatres Trust. Simon is a former chair of the Architecture Foundation and will assume the Presidency of RIBA from 1 September 2021. www.ahmm.co.uk
Catrina Stewart founded, together with Hugh McEwen, Office S&M, an award-winning architecture practice working with a 50/50 split of public and private clients on individual homes, new-build housing, workspace retrofit and public realm projects.
Office S&M responds to the context of each project – house, street or neighbourhood – acknowledging the existing, while deploying colour and narrative inventively to create drama. Built projects include: Valetta House (2017), which won the NLA Don’t Move, Improve! 2018 ‘Best use of materials’ award; Salmen House (2017); Janus House (2018); and Finsbury Park High Street shops (2017), all in London. Current projects include: Mill Corner House, a newbuild house in East Sussex; the Green Room in Newham; Nag’s Head Market, Holloway; and Chipstead Way, Croydon.
Achievements to date include: winning Building Design’s Young Architect of the Year Award (2020); inclusion in The Architects’ Journal’s 40 under 40 – a showcase of architecture’s brightest up-and-coming talent (2020); and recognition as a Rising Star by RIBA Journal (2019). Office S&M will feature in The Architecture Foundation’s New Architects 4, to be published in 2021. www.officesandm.com
Portrait Pictures:
Simon Allford ©Tom Mesquitta
Catrina Stewart ©OfficeS&M