AOC architects

AOC is a practice of architects, urbanists and interpreters, established in 2003. Motivated by the ways in which forces and factors besides architects shape places, we are committed to delivering projects that fully engage with and respond to the contexts - social, economic, political and spatial - in which they are set. We place emphasis on participatory practice and brief-development, and approach our work through rigorous dialogue and research, enjoying and exploring the contributions of others at every stage. We believe that a broader conversation creates a richer and more bespoke end product. Our organisational structure stimulates this conversation through the presence of AOC Participation, a distinct in-house unit specialising in collaborative techniques - such as the Building Futures Game, a neighbourhood planning tool designed for the RIBA and CABE - and in brief-building processes, for our own projects and for those of others. Our portfolio has a strong focus on cultural institutions and public projects, working in partnership with both public and private sector clients to deliver these through a broad range of procurement mechanisms. Completed projects include many new and refurbished school buildings, as well as galleries, performance spaces and neighbourhood masterplans. We also recently designed the Walk in the Olympic Park, Stratford, a curated route with landscape installations telling the story of the transformation of the London 2012 site. We are currently designing a winning housing scheme for Cambridge University's proposed urban extension to the north west of the city; Nunhead House, a new low-energy community centre developed with a local community group; Nunhead Green housing, a mixture of terrace homes, maisonettes and flats in a conservation area; the Reading Room in the Wellcome Trust headquarters, a social and participative exhibition space; a new permenant exhibition at the Tower of London; and Southwark Park Primary School, new build and redevelopment of a Grade 2 listed building in Southwark. We exhibited at the Venice Biennale 2008 and our work has been internationally published and exhibited in leading museums and galleries in the UK, Europe and USA. We have taught at many internationally-renowned schools of architecture and were the Louis I. Kahn Visiting Assistant Professors at Yale for 2011. We regularly lecture in the UK and Europe, provide design and policy advice to governmental and statutory bodies, and contribute to contemporary architectural culture through television, radio and public debate.