Alma-nac Collaborative Architecture

Alma-nac is a London-based studio that emerged in 2010 out of a desire to focus on construction rather than paper architecture. There was a yearning to ask open questions and to go back to first principles. The founding partners – Chris Bryant, Caspar Rodgers and Tristan Wigfall – are also keen on design as having a role in making something worthwhile out of perhaps an unlikely starting point like a difficult site or unusually small space.
This investigative attitude goes hand in hand with Alma-nac’s interest in research-based architecture and in using temporary structures and installations as way to explore our environment. Arup invited Alma-nac to do just this as part of the BEL Installation for their headquarters in London. The result was a fresh look at this major engineering firm’s own office both from a social as well as an environmental perspective.
Alma-nac‘s built work includes commissions for creative and forward-thinking individuals from the music industry, publishing and politics. On each project, the architects touch on themes that have a real resonance in the profession and our experience of places. Slim House in Clapham, London is an example of this type of innovative use of a pocket-of-space that only became valuable through insightful design. The project led onto fresh thinking about micro-living and the practice is currently working on two multi-unit housing projects that further explore the notion of compact homes.
A distinctive aspect of the working methods at Alma-nac is the use wit together with direct engagement with the public and the design community as a sounding board for their work. To this end, the studio has been actively involved in setting up groups and events such as BOW DIY , Free Architecture and Guerilla Tactics.
The studio’s discriminating yet constructive approach has won the practice awards and led to Alma-nac being selected for this year’s Wallpaper* Architects Directory.