Chris Dyson Architects

For us design is an explicit and reiterative process beginning with research and analysis which lead into conceptual exploration and development. We like to think of ourselves as architects who have sufficient means to make any commission a priority. I am fortunate to have a young, galvanized team; the office is resolutely low-tech, where the hand is ever present.

Presently we build small projects and most of us have experienced design studios with larger public projects, I believe the same intensity applies to the larger project often revisiting and checking along the critical process of design, through to definition in the working drawings and tenders to build.
Good design is drawn and the effectiveness of drawing is based on the precision with which it succeeds in identifying and prefiguring the ways in which the building will be made. Everything has its purpose beyond mere style, perhaps the most intense example is the detail drawing and the more lucid the conceptual drawing-these are often born of different mind sets. However one is no good at all without the other, without a vision of the whole and its potential.

Our Architects carry their responsibilities with great care and effectiveness often working with a variety of craftsmen and subcontractors, on the smaller, and liaising with the main contractor on the larger projects. Whether drawn by computer or hand the act of drawing requires clarity of mind and must always say something, ‘’here is the brick arch and this is how it sits in relation to the window frame and sill’’…par example. For this we gain both the respect of our clients and the contractor, in this act we become the masters of our craft – that is making well-built and useful buildings to last for as long as the materials will allow.

CDA has grown a little more since our first book ‘8-5’, we have made forays into larger scale projects and competitions, and some are illustrated within this book. We remain committed to the design competition concept, often spinning plates between planning submissions and detail design and execution on site.

‘’Try everything that can be done
Be deliberate be spontaneous
Be thoughtful and painstaking
Be abandoned and impulsive
Learn your own possibilities ...’’ 1920 George Bellows

We seek to vitalise contemporary architecture with a rich inclusive architectural language which fuses the modern movement’s ideals of functionality, clarity, integrity and economy with the traditional architectural qualities of form and space and thereby conveys a sense of historical continuity. We are also striving for a synthesis between the traditional buildings and the more informal culture today. Above all, we hope to maintain the connection between suitability for purpose and beauty.

Behind every successful building is an engaged and proactive Client who makes a unique contribution to the development of the Brief and evolution of the design. Ideally we become involved in a project when the initial activity and spatial brief of requirements and site have been established and we can then contribute with the Client and specialist Consultants, to development of its full potential.
Initially, all aspirations for the project and constraints upon it are reviewed with the Client and reconciled into the Brief. This Brief forms the basis of a wide ranging diagrammatic exercise to explore all possible ways of configuring the building. These alternatives are presented in basic sketches and models in sufficient detail to convey their fundamental characteristics appropriate to the stage of development.
In a practice of this size, from table top sketch, model, computer drawings to physical reality, a small army of people become involved. Some are present from beginning to end; others for a short time or a specific purpose. Everyone counts, everyone makes a difference. My gratitude goes out to all those listed at the back of this book and others too numerous to mention. I hope you enjoy this second book.