Studio

Ian Shaw Architekten is an award winning, interdisciplinary practice offering a full architectural service together with interior design, master-planning, furniture and product design, and acoustics & sound system design.

The practice has extensive experience, gained both nationally and internationally, working on a wide range of projects; these include theatres and live music venues, hotels, industrial buildings, offices, apartments and private houses, and mixed-use schemes.

Ian Shaw Architekten holds membership of both the Bund Deutscher Architekten (BDA) and the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA); the practice is also a member of the German Federal Architectural Associations in the states of Hesse (AKH) and Thuringia (AKT).

Principles

Appreciating and understanding materials - their tectonic properties, their aesthetics - inspires how we design and how we build. Technology facilitates this dynamic but is never a substitute for the art of space making, the art of construction. Fundamental to this process is the use of light as a building element, defining space and animating form.

Every design is bespoke - developed with efficiency, elegance and authenticity - and always articulated with close reference to the topography of a given site. This grounds our work, the challenge then being to respond in a way that has longevity. This we do utilizing a set of enduring architecture tenets relating to light and materiality, as cited, but also composition of form, scaling and timeless geometric proportions.

Process

Everything we create is the outcome of an intensive dialogue between our clients and ourselves. Each detail is carefully considered. From concept design to completion - encompassing working drawings, specifications, rigorous site supervision and cost control - our methodology is exacting.

Unlike many conventional practices, we make extensive use of models in developing a new work. We design; computers assist - this ensures that humanism remains firmly rooted in our architecture.