Format Engineers

Format Engineers Engineering Designers with backgrounds in structural engineering, coding, mathematics and architecture. We apply intellect, rigour and imagination

We apply intellect, rigour and imagination

23/12/2025

Happy Christmas and best wishes for the New Year from all of us. It’s been a thrilling year and we can’t wait for 2026. Thanks to everyone we’ve collaborated with for making it productive and enjoyable.

We are growing and are looking for creative and engaged minds who want to play a pivotal role in projects across the wor...
19/12/2025

We are growing and are looking for creative and engaged minds who want to play a pivotal role in projects across the world.

We would love to hear from Structural Engineers with less than two years of experience, preferably with a working knowledge of Grasshopper/Rhino and with an ability to write code in C # or python, but primarily we are looking for people with an enthusiasm for engineering design and a questioning attitude.

See our website (link in bio) for further information

We've just released another grasshopper tool - say hello to Giraffe.Giraffe allows the simple generation of planar panel...
15/12/2025

We've just released another grasshopper tool - say hello to Giraffe.

Giraffe allows the simple generation of planar panellised forms from any input mesh.

It's really two tools - Lloyds clustering algorithm that uses a Euclidean or normal based error metric to create a Voronoi diagram on any non-disjoint mesh with a user-selectable number of cells. Then a planarising tool follows that attempts to flatten these cells into flat panels. Compared to other panelising methods, Giraffe removes some user control in favour of a simple two-step process with minimal variables. We often use it in combination with Daniel Piker's Kangaroo tools.

Giraffe is a re-release of tools first developed for the 2012 Trada Pavilion back in our RCD days with code developed by Harri Lewis.

We've updated it for newer versions of Rhino/GH is now available on Food4Rhino and the package manager. The source code is also on our github page. Link in bio.

25/11/2025

LilyPad, our grasshopper plugin for generating stress lines, is now available on github (link in bio) and the rhino package manager. It will soon be up on food4rhino as well.

We have used the tool on a number of recent projects to explore stress flow and to place material in the most efficient location. Even where the field patterns may not be explicitly expressed, component directions may be subtly tweaked to improve overall efficiency.

Please review the read-me and we’ve provided a series of example files for you to explore.

It was a shame that Tan House missed out on an award on Friday, but it was up against a tough field.Congratulations to a...
17/11/2025

It was a shame that Tan House missed out on an award on Friday, but it was up against a tough field.

Congratulations to all the winners and thanks to the for such a great event 🎉

Special thanks to our friends from and both for the project itself and for joining us on Friday.

We were very proud to work on this alongside our friends at and the team of fantastic craftspeople they brought togethe...
08/11/2025

We were very proud to work on this alongside our friends at and the team of fantastic craftspeople they brought together.

Reposted from their post...

Engineering elegance at Fortnum & Mason.

From fabrication to final flourish, Littlehampton Welding is proud to have brought the iconic double helix staircase at to life - a true fusion of craftsmanship and engineering within the heart of Piccadilly.

Each stair section and all balustrades were meticulously fabricated and finished in our Sussex workshops before being installed by our team on site with absolute precision.

The staircase spans four levels of Fortnum & Mason’s new central atrium, featuring over 3,000 hand-crafted elements; including scrolls within the balustrades forged by blacksmiths, hand-cast decorative flowers, and wooden handrails and stair treads expertly fitted by skilled carpenters.

From workshop fabrication to on-site installation, this project stands as a celebration of British craftsmanship, collaboration, and design innovation.

Design by
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15/10/2025

It’s great news that have finally been given permission to proceed with construction of their airship facility in Bordeaux, France. Congratulations to them. Start on site is planned for 2026.

A huge focus on the design was the optimisation of the hanger frame to reduce the embodied energy wherever possible. Attached, a quick video of some of the computational techniques we developed which helped achieve that aim.



We collaborated with to develop the design, were part of the competition winning team and carried on the structural design of the hangar building into Concept, Schematic and Detailed Design phases as part of Terrell’s Engineering team.

Credit to them as very inclusive, friendly and knowledgeable Engineering partners and congratulations to GAAMMA.

We are proud to hear that Tan House Footbridge has been shortlisted for the ! The bridge was a collaboration between Ne...
08/09/2025

We are proud to hear that Tan House Footbridge has been shortlisted for the !

The bridge was a collaboration between Network Rail ,WSP and Format Engineers

The design was developed to minimise embodied energy, developing the structural concept around the decision to use repurposed steel. It illustrates how low cost, low carbon public infrastructure can be delivered with a bespoke solution that is suited to its site.

The Institution of Structural Engineers judges had the following to say:

“A rigorously executed footbridge that showcases the potential of reclaimed steel in modern infrastructure. Using repurposed circular hollow sections, the team employed advanced digital tools to test thousands of configurations, matching the design to available stock and minimising waste. The resulting form recalls the elegance of Victorian structures while delivering a greatly reduced embodied carbon footprint, setting a valuable precedent within a highly governed rail environment.”

Its petit size nestled within the confines of a historic Kent barn belies the complex timber engineering within. A great...
30/07/2025

Its petit size nestled within the confines of a historic Kent barn belies the complex timber engineering within. A great deal of work went into proving the prefabricated frame. This paid off when the building was erected in a matter of hours. Photo credit . Architecture by

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