Friend and Company Architects

Friend and Company Architects Award winning architects and designers specialist in applied use of digital and robotic craft with e

Back in December 2023, I wandered through Gucci Cosmos in London with missheard, Senior Lecturer in Fashion at LCF.Part ...
30/07/2026

Back in December 2023, I wandered through Gucci Cosmos in London with missheard, Senior Lecturer in Fashion at LCF.

Part archive, part film set and part architectural journey, the exhibition traced Gucci’s origins in London through a series of immersive spaces where fashion became memory and architecture became storytelling.

Designed by the brilliant Es Devlin, every glowing drawer, mirrored corridor and impossible perspective invited us to travel through time, discovering new connections between objects, ideas and histories.

Watching these images again today, I can’t help hearing Nightcall. The slow journey through Gucci’s archive feels somewhere between 2001: A Space Odyssey, Barbarella and Nicolas Winding Refn’s Drive—gliding through an endless neon landscape where fashion, film and architecture collide.

Today, these images also feel like a quiet nod to Kavinsky, whose soundtrack gave Drive its unforgettable pulse. Thank you for the music that continues to colour journeys like this.

Promised myself I’d finally start going through all my photos and videos, so let’s start with one of my favourite rides....
25/07/2026

Promised myself I’d finally start going through all my photos and videos, so let’s start with one of my favourite rides.

Today I’m thinking of all those dynamic dynamos taking on the wonderfully joyous, bat-fuelled night ride otherwise known as the Dunwich Dynamo—from London Fields to the Suffolk coast.

I was convinced I’d get the dreaded bonk… but no! Three packets of fig rolls (yes… 36 of the beauties!) together with two banana & peanut butter bagels kept me fuelled. Top tip: start carb-loading a couple of days beforehand.

I developed a slight knee niggle around the 150 km mark (I hadn’t given my SPDs enough float), reached the sea at 188 km, and then realised I hadn’t actually booked any transport home. 😅 So I tagged along with a group riding to Ipswich to catch the train… adding another 50 km to the day!

Skipper—my dad—wasn’t impressed when I eventually got home. He looked at me rather quizzically and simply asked, “Why did you do that?” 😂

Huge thanks to Tobias Revell for the company. If I remember correctly, we spent almost the entire ride talking about robotics and 3D printing.

A sneak peak of a wee invited competition to research and design a new museum shop in 66 Portland Place. Thank you for ...
27/05/2026

A sneak peak of a wee invited competition to research and design a new museum shop in 66 Portland Place. Thank you for the invitation to join and to be shortlisted from a select longlist of talented design researchers, as part of the ‘House of Architecture’ refurbishment. Nice to be recognised for expanding the role of museum shops that extend visitor experiences via a rich history of experimental retail prototypes, many of which were historically tested in museum pop-up installations long before emerging much later in the High Street.  
 
Our approach was inspired by the then modernist fast-craft that had fascinated Grey Wornum, architect of 66 Portland Place who was similarly fascinated by new technologies fueling innovation in craft emerging in post-Great War 1920s Britain for design of the Royal Institute of British Architects headquarters.  
 
The concept for new RIBA Shop, revisited a glass-timber prototype, first tested and scaled down from an earlier competition to reimagine a Victorian gasholder. Titled Kings Cross Corona the scale model made of clear acrylic, brass metal etch and balsa, was also selected for exhibition in the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, Architecture Room, curated by architect David Chipperfield. 
 
Images:  
1. New RIBA Shop competition design proposal ©FriendandCompanyArchitects 
2. Kings Cross Corona competition model ©FriendandCompanyArchitects photo Adam Dawe
3. RIBA 66 Portland Place. Details - main entrance stair glass  
4. New RIBA Shop competition design proposal ©FriendandCompanyArchitects 
5. Kings Cross Corona competition model ©FriendandCompanyArchitects photo Adam Dawe
6. RIBA 66 Portland Place. Details – door handle
 

Inspiring visit to the new in Wiltshire and Welcome Building for amazing journey and tour of the 300,000 objects in th...
24/05/2026

Inspiring visit to the new in Wiltshire and Welcome Building for amazing journey and tour of the 300,000 objects in the collection held in the nearby Hawking Building where we were seeking shades of orange, from McLaren Papaya Orange to Omaha Orange.

_The iconic Omaha Orange on the Tucker Sno-Cat® Type 743, Labelled ‘C’, affectionately known as ‘Haywire’, used by Commonwealth Trans-Antarctica Expedition from 1955-8 the first motorised crossing of the continent to complete a scientific survey, including recordings of the Earth’s magnetic field and meteorological and glaciological studies.

_The golden ‘orange’ shade of Morino Yellow on the Mk 1 Golf. Brought back memories of one once owned that was a resplendent red and hours spent polishing!

_The iconic McLaren Papaya Orange that adorns the nose of the sublime McLaren MP4/7 the first car to use carbon fibre technology! McLaren chose its famous “Papaya Orange” (also known as McLaren Orange) ahead of the 1968 racing season to ensure high visibility on the then new medium of colour television. Loved the F1 inspired ‘winged-profile armrests’ armchairs in Welcome Building, a clever connection to the collection!

_The fluorescent Dockerblaze Orange on Sea King Scale Model for radio signature testing from Royal Aircraft Establishment object collection used to evaluate the aircraft’s radiation patterns and radio signatures to optimise communication capabilities and evaluate its detectability by radar.

Still giddy now, after driving down the old runway, on what used to be RAF Wroughton to the Hawking Building, named after Professor Stephen Hawking, and now ranks as one of most memorable of museum visits!

Inspiring visit to the new in Wiltshire and Welcome Building for amazing journey and tour of the 300,000 objects in th...
24/05/2026

Inspiring visit to the new in Wiltshire and Welcome Building for amazing journey and tour of the 300,000 objects in the collection held in the nearby Hawking Building where we were seeking shades of orange, from McLaren Papaya Orange to Omaha Orange.

_The iconic Omaha Orange on the Tucker Sno-Cat® Type 743, Labelled ‘C’, affectionately known as ‘Haywire’, used by Commonwealth Trans-Antarctica Expedition from 1955-8 the first motorised crossing of the continent to complete a scientific survey, including recordings of the Earth’s magnetic field and meteorological and glaciological studies.

_The golden ‘orange’ shade of Morino Yellow on the Mk 1 Golf. Brought back memories of one once owned that was a resplendent red and hours spent polishing!

_The iconic McLaren Papaya Orange that adorns the nose of the sublime McLaren MP4/7 the first car to use carbon fibre technology! McLaren chose its famous “Papaya Orange” (also known as McLaren Orange) ahead of the 1968 racing season to ensure high visibility on the then new medium of colour television. Loved the F1 inspired ‘winged-profile armrests’ armchairs in Welcome Building, a clever connection to the collection!

_The iconic Dockerblaze Orange on Sea King Scale Model for radio signature testing from Royal Aircraft Establishment object collection used to evaluate the aircraft’s radiation patterns and radio signatures to optimise communication capabilities and evaluate its detectability by radar.

Still giddy now, after driving down the old runway, on what used to be RAF Wroughton to the Hawking Building, named after Professor Stephen Hawking, and now ranks as one of most memorable of museum visits!

SafetyOrange CaliforniaHighwayOrange SafetyOrange DockerblazeOrange RAFWroughton RAF MorinoYellow Golf SamJacobStudio Design Architecture FriendandCompanyArchitects StephenHawking

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