Over the past 12 months, 18 of AHMM’s projects were recognised by industry awards that celebrate architecture, urban design, sustainability, housing and other things. Accolades from leading organisations, such as British Council for Offices, RIBA, CIVIC TRUST AWARDS, and World Architecture Festival.
That’s quite a trophy cabinet for a year. But let’s keep it in perspective. AHMM, well, they’ve literally won hundreds of awards, including the Stirling Prize, among others. That means – somebody, somewhere, thinks they’re doing things right. And better than that, doing things right consistently, and that takes a very particular spirit, and a very particular attention to building. In this industry Awards are won, not random gifts from a lottery.
Allford Hall Monaghan Morris have built a reputation on practical, intelligent design. They don’t just make buildings, they make—good, useful ones. AHMM has managed to build an architecture that arrives on budget, on time, pleases (repeat) clients, delights occupants and sustains communities.
AHMM has a philosophy, “long life, loose fit.” That means they design buildings that imagine a variety of eventual uses, ready for when somebody needs them to do something different. A warehouse might become market, or a brewery, or seed a thriving community of micro business; apartments could flourish in spaces once intended for manufacture. Who knows? Who cares? The point is, the walls don’t get in the way. For AHMM architecture is a way of framing space to be used, not a place that demands a slavish adherence to its form.
Sustainability is important. Everybody says so. AHMM actually does something about it. They’re engaged in technology, in philosophy, in science. They workshop and they test, they evaluate and re-evaluate, in fact, they’re almost geeky about it. But they insist, it’s nothing fancy, just common sense. Because what’s the alternative? More waste, more buildings that don’t work? Somehow for AHMM, that isn’t good enough.
They also like talking to people, the people who will actually use the buildings. They’ve worked out architecture shouldn’t be a lonely profession, exercised in an echo chamber, and that idea doesn’t seem to have done them any harm. Architecture is supposed to make life better, not worse. Their buildings are meant to be used, not worshipped. No pointless frills, no fragile nonsense, just solid, thoughtful design. Their legacy won’t be about flashy trends—it’ll be about making places people actually like being in.
So, “long life, loose fit”, maybe “long life, good fit”?
Congratulations to Allford Hall Monaghan Morris and all their very many collaborators.
The Alder Centre, 1 New Park Square, 1 Berkeley Street, The Icehouse District, One Great Cumberland Place, London Square, Norton Folgate, One Portwall, 2 Ruskin Square, Soho Place, Tower Hamlets Town Hall, Wheeler Condos, The Brentford Project
