Office Sian Architecture + Design

Office Sian Architecture + Design Award-winning Architects based in London.

REUSE AND REMAKEEarly design development of the reimaging of an existing light-industrial building, to create additional...
26/08/2026

REUSE AND REMAKE

Early design development of the reimaging of an existing light-industrial building, to create additional studio/worker's spaces, education rooms, and a restaurant. Trying to sneak in a small herb garden as well.

MY GUILTY PLEASUREHave a read of my [architectural] guilty pleasure. Please. [It's all about Canary Wharf, London]Why? B...
05/05/2026

MY GUILTY PLEASURE

Have a read of my [architectural] guilty pleasure. Please. [It's all about Canary Wharf, London]

Why?

Because, it's a light-hearted break from all the AI-ness in your feed.

And also, I'm hoping that by me sharing, it will help me be purged of my [architectural] sins.

Forgive me.

Thanks to

**Link to the article in the bio.**

THE FIRST IDEA NEVER WINS [THE HERITAGE VERSION....]Following on from a few of my recent posts about showing ideas which...
29/04/2026

THE FIRST IDEA NEVER WINS [THE HERITAGE VERSION....]

Following on from a few of my recent posts about showing ideas which didn't quite work [it's always more fun to learn from other people's mistakes, right?!?], and explaining why, and what we learnt....... here's one from a wonderful heritage project that we're working on.

The pic shows a WIP render view of a new courtyard. It was a drawing we did to open up a discussion with our heritage consultant, as we're proposing new works to a really sensitive Grade II listed building in East Suffolk. Their comments were amazingly clear and instructive; basically, really really really think about what and why you're doing things, either to replace, or to create anew. The comments on the pic give a snapshot of our conversation.

This led to a revised approach, and a wonderfully positive response from the council from our pre-app which praised our highly sensitive, sophisticated, collaborative approach.

The value of working alongside great consultants.

Finger's-crossed we can go one step further with an approval, and then I can share more.

REFUGEThinking about a small community space — the kind of brief that suggests *somewhere people can come when things fe...
27/04/2026

REFUGE

Thinking about a small community space — the kind of brief that suggests *somewhere people can come when things feel hard* — and at some point i stopped thinking about walls and rooms and started talking about the moment before you're even inside, that covered ground beneath a raised building where you might pause without really deciding to.

I've been thinking a lot lately about how refuge isn't always a room, how sometimes it's just a roof above you and open air on all sides and the quiet feeling that something solid has got you....... and how rarely we actually design for that moment.

RADIO SIAN: Walk + Talk with SHUMBAPlease listen to a really fun Walk + Talk with Shumba [19mins]. We had been planning ...
27/04/2026

RADIO SIAN: Walk + Talk with SHUMBA

Please listen to a really fun Walk + Talk with Shumba [19mins]. We had been planning this chat for many many months, and finally we managed it.

Shumba is one of the most fascinating people you will ever meet. As a multi-talented singer, song-writer, musician and producer, it's always interesting to walk with him and listen to how he sees the world and the environment in which he tries to create.

Born and raised in Zimbabwe until the age of 12, his idea of London before he moved here was from watching episodes of 'Mr Bean' on TV.

Reality hit slightly differently......

As always, these Walk + Talks are not just about the words spoken, but also about the sounds of the environment which are collected as we speak.

It's a soundscape of a conversation.

I hope you enjoy Shumba's story.

**Click on the 'Radio Sian' link in the bio to listen in**

WELLBEING + DESIGN [WHAT LAST YEAR TAUGHT US]Last year we worked with trauma experts who delivered some inspiring CPDs o...
25/02/2026

WELLBEING + DESIGN [WHAT LAST YEAR TAUGHT US]

Last year we worked with trauma experts who delivered some inspiring CPDs on being better trauma-aware designers. It was one of the most useful — and quietly challenging — things we've done as a practice.

I went in thinking that I already had a reasonable instinct for this:

"We care about people."
"We think carefully about how spaces feel." [whatever that means...]

But what I came away with was a more honest question: does caring about how a space looks actually mean you're designing for how people feel inside it? Those two things can look identical from the outside, and be very different in practice.

Trauma-informed design isn't about a particular aesthetic. It isn't softness, or natural materials, or biophilia, although none of those things hurt. It's about whether a person — any person — feels like they have choice in a space.

Whether they can understand where they are without anxiety. Whether the environment is working with them or quietly against them.

What struck me most was how often "nice" design gets those things wrong. Spaces that are visually calm but spatially confusing. Environments that feel welcoming in a photograph and exposing in person. The gap between intention and experience is wider than most of us would like to admit.

When we worked on a recent visioning study for a client wanting to develop a wellbeing campus, this thinking ran through everything — not just the therapy spaces, but how arrival feels, how different groups of people share a site with dignity, where the quiet goes, and where the activity goes, and what sits between them.

I think that's what good design for wellbeing actually requires. Not just sensitivity. Honesty about the gap between what we intend and what we deliver.

Pic from a CPD Session delivered by Dr Emilie Medeiros & Dr Dean Flanagan from Manas.

NEW PROJECT THOUGHTS: FROM ALLOCATION.... TO PLACEIf we’re serious about addressing the housing shortage in this country...
23/02/2026

NEW PROJECT THOUGHTS: FROM ALLOCATION.... TO PLACE

If we’re serious about addressing the housing shortage in this country, we have to be equally serious about how sites are structured from the outset — not just how many homes are delivered.

We recently submitted representations to the council in support of the proposed allocation for land in Kent, identified for approximately 77 new homes.

At this stage, it’s not about detailed architecture. It’s about establishing the right principles early — landscape structure, sustainability, ecoligy, density, access, access for all, and community infrastructure — so quality isn’t retrofitted later.

Our submission sets out a landscape-led masterplan responding to the site’s edge-of-settlement position. A central green forms the organising heart of the neighbourhood, with provision for a small community building within it. Streets are arranged to ensure active play-spaces, and natural surveillance.

This is where long-term standards are either embedded or diluted, so it's important to set the tone from the outset.

RIBA FUTURE LEADERS CONFERENCELast week I was a keynote speaker at the Royal Institute of British Architects Future Lead...
11/02/2026

RIBA FUTURE LEADERS CONFERENCE

Last week I was a keynote speaker at the Royal Institute of British Architects Future Leaders Event in London.

The talk wasn’t really about leadership in the conventional sense. It was about Usefulness — and how easily the profession confuses confidence, speed, and endurance with good leadership.

A lot of what we inherit in practice rewards certainty and urgency. It moves things along, but it can narrow who speaks, and who ends up carrying pressures. That has consequences, not just for people, but for the quality of the work.

I spoke about some mistakes I’ve made running a small studio, and about learning to slow things down, make space in conversations, and be more deliberate about whose voices are centred — particularly in sensitive contexts.

What I’ve learned is that leadership shows up less in big gestures and more in small, repeated choices: when to pause, when to listen, when not to fill the silence.

I didn’t set out to lead. I just tried [and try] to be useful — and to stay alert to who that usefulness is actually for.

Thanks to everyone who attended, and to Juliet Redelsperger-Talbot for the invitation to share. Sorry to have missed out on listening/learning from + as I had to leave early!

Photo credits:

WELLBEING + DESIGN [WHAT'S IT ABOUT?]We’ve recently completed an early visioning study for a client at the very start of...
10/02/2026

WELLBEING + DESIGN [WHAT'S IT ABOUT?]

We’ve recently completed an early visioning study for a client at the very start of exploring a wellbeing campus. At this stage, there were no drawings and no fixed designs. One of the clearest lessons from this work is that wellbeing is shaped less by individual features and more by relationships: between people, between activities, and between public, shared, and private space.

When those relationships are poorly considered, even beautifully designed buildings can feel stressful or exclusionary. When they’re handled with care, spaces begin to support connection, dignity, and ease — often without anyone consciously noticing why.

This is why we focus so much energy at the very beginning of a project. Wellbeing can’t be added later. It has to be embedded in the structure, the sequencing, and the way people are brought together from the outset.

This is the first in a short series sharing what early wellbeing + design work keeps teaching us.

GURDWARA - A DETAILED STUDY Developing early stage concepts for a Sikh temple, a Gurdwara. Image shows an interior view ...
09/02/2026

GURDWARA - A DETAILED STUDY

Developing early stage concepts for a Sikh temple, a Gurdwara. Image shows an interior view of the Darbar Hall, which is one of the main congregating spaces in the temple.

architecture sikh sikhtemple sikhhistory Darbar darbarsahib stone landscape communitybuilding approach welcome sustainable working design inclusion openhouse feasibility communityspirit newdesign

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