We search for clues to help us solve design problems.

At the beginning of every project we delve into archives, pour over records, and listen. Research and interrogation helps us to understand historical, physical, and social context. We piece together how and why a building or place has developed and evolved over time.

At Leeds Town Hall and Hyde Park Picture House, the clues unearthed in our research have become the catalysts for our interior design strategies.

The clues we find might also reveal forgotten character and soul, hidden by the passage of time. Our vital investigation work can tell us the story of the people and place; it can indicate what should or should not be inserted, and it gives that new intervention a purpose, meaning and respectful sincerity that might otherwise be missed.

At Leeds Town Hall and Hyde Park Picture House, the clues unearthed in our research have become the catalysts for our interior design strategies.

Inspired by historical uses, hierarchy and colour, our new adaptions are purposeful yet sensitive to the qualities of the buildings that people love and are sentimental about.  

Transforming buildings in this way forces us to adapt: to work with what we find on site, and to weave layers of reference and meaning into our new proposals.