A small practice, on purpose

Hollis Wren Architects is nine architects and designers in one shared studio. We take on around eight projects at a time, so the people who draw your building are the people who answer your calls.

We started in 2014 with a loft conversion and a borrowed plotter. Since then we have completed 41 buildings: house extensions, two libraries, three schools, a boathouse and a handful of old industrial buildings given new uses. Most are under 2,000 m², and almost all of them are built in timber, brick or both.

We believe the greenest building is usually the one already standing, so every project starts by asking what can be kept. When we do build new, we use materials that can be repaired and measured, and we go back a year after handover to read the meters and talk to the people using the building.

We are a small team by choice. Every project has a partner involved from the first sketch to the final account, and we turn down work when the studio is full rather than hand it to someone junior. It keeps the drawings careful and the site visits regular.