PRACTICE PROFILE

Jamie Fobert.

JAMIE FOBERTARCHITECTSINSIDE OUT

Konditor & Cook, London, 2007

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Jamie Fobert Architects (JFA), a small, London-basedpractice of eight, has long been punching well above itsweight in terms of acclaim and awards. Its success hasgrown out of reinventing domestic environments,including the Anderson House, which won the RIBAManser Medal for Best House and for which the firm wasone of 12 shortlisted for the Stirling Prize. However, theextraordinary architectural integrity of the practice,which seems refreshingly untainted by any desire forsensationalism or showmanship, has also lent itselftowards acclaimed – and increasingly high-profile – artsand commercial projects. The key to its success acrossthis diverse range appears to be the application of arational, topographically responsive aesthetic that is notoverburdened by a wish to force through a stridentpreconception of form. Each project, often at leastpartially restricted by an existing shell, is designed fromthe inside to the outside.

Jamie Fobert is a Canadian who studied at theUniversity of Toronto before joining David Chipperfieldin London in 1988. He briefly ran Chipperfield’s Berlinoffice and then set up his own London practice in 1996,and it soon became clear from his work that while hemay have learnt from the textured, augmentedminimalism of his mentor, he is no fawning acolyte.Early residential work included reconfigurations of thehomes of the artist couples Antony Gormley/VickenParsons and Christopher Le Brun/Charlotte Verity, andunderlined Fobert’s ability to redefine the parameters ofspatial expectation within confined metropolitan housing.

Jamie Fobert Architects is now housed in a curvedformer warehouse in Old Street which offers severalpointers to the way the practice approaches design: forstarters, it combines a utilitarian (but far from ordinary)arrangement with an unusual aesthetic despite therestrictions of being contained within existing premises.These elements are found within the Anderson Housenear Oxford Circus, London, which is perhaps the singlebuilding that pushed Fobert to the forefront ofresidential architecture.

The nature of the site forced some radical thinking: the house isinserted into a small space surrounded by 8-metre (26.2-foot) highresidential party walls, with street access of only 1 metre (3.3 feet).Without the prospect of perimeter windows, light was obviously goingto be a major issue, but JFA approached the complexities by pushingforward an elemental solution – treating light as the essentialmaterial around which the design would be based. The design camefrom looking outwards at the site from its centre, envisaging how thebuilding could frame as much light as possible while serving theneeds of a domestic environment. The coup de grâce is a roof lightthat forms an angle with a large window, without the interruption offrames or joists, giving rise to a surprising perspective. Concrete,specially treated to be as reflective and polished as possible, providesboth a structural and textural core to the house, forming the kitchenarea and stairwell before reaching across the main living area ceiling.Overall, the house, completed in 2002, gives a feeling of light andspace on a site that should have been doomed towardsclaustrophobic darkness.

Fobert emphasises this inside-to-outside approach when revealinga personal bugbear about the thought processes of some otherarchitects: ‘I am critical of forms that are only seen from above.Who’s going to see these buildings from above?’ Usually, beforeprograms such as AutoCAD and PePaKuRa are used, real model-making plays an extremely vital part in JFA’s design process.

The architect of several artists’ homes, Jamie Fobert is nowlanding himself a string of acclaimed arts and commercialcommissions. From his warehouse in Old Street in London,he explained to HHoowwaarrdd WWaattssoonn how the sensitive integrityof his architecture has developed out of ‘an inside-outapproach’, which puts particular store in ‘framing light andviews’ and the sculpting of space aided by physical model-making, rather than the synthetic top-down views that areimposed by widely used CAD programs.

Anderson House, London, 2002The skylight and window of the RIBA ManserMedal-winning house, sandwiched into a sitewith no perimeter windows.

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Wherever possible, the practice builds at a very largescale of 1:20, to give a true impression of the building.This also allows the models to more realistically revealthe play of light upon the design. The models are takenoutside to be photographed in natural light, and areoften photographed from within so that the client canperceive the effect of genuine and complex lightpatterns on the living experience.

It is obvious from the way that Fobert talks aboutarchitecture that he has a strong interest in helpingprospective architects find the right processes throughwhich to approach design. He taught a design studio atthe Architectural Association from 2000 to 2002,became a visiting professor at the University ofLausanne in 2007, and has lectured at a wide variety ofuniversities and colleges across Europe. He says that themost important thing a young practice should focus onis ‘Having the right clients to allow your own language toevolve. A strong language of architecture scares thewrong sort of client away.’ This is not meant to implythat he forces his ideas upon clients – it is clear that he

often relishes the client–practice relationship – but, rather, that heenjoys working with clients who are receptive to what may appear tobe radical resolutions.

The Anderson House has been followed by a string of intriguingresidential projects, not least the recent Kander House, a RIBALondon Award winner, and the Faha Farmhouse in County Clare,Ireland. The ‘strong architectural language’ is apparent in bothprojects, but so is the practice’s desire to offer resolutions that arecreated out of the particular topography of the site and the distinctambitions of the clients. The Kander House in Hampstead, London,features a striking reconfiguration of a Victorian house into a series ofoverlapping volumes. The result is an unusual, sleek but texturedenvironment, with much emphasis placed on light and perspectives,which seems wholly appropriate as the client is a successfulphotographer. By contrast, Fobert is insistent that the Faha residenceis called a farmhouse, not a house. It is meant to be completelyrelated to its use as part of a farm dwelling, and the design has to sitamong the ruggedness of its immediate surroundings and survive therigours of a working farm. Fobert was very conscious that neither theclients nor the site would suit ‘a slice of chic London stuck in theIrish landscape. It is contemporary. Not slick, though.’

With its long-standing involvement with artistic clients and itsoriginal approach towards framing light and views, it is not surprisingthat JFA has been drawn towards designing art environments. In2002, the practice was asked to design a sculpture exhibition called‘The Upright Figure’ for Tate Modern, and this has been followed bydesigns for Tate Britain’s ‘Constable to Delacroix’ exhibition in 2003,London’s Frieze Art Fair in 2006 and 2007, and the V&A’s recent‘Out of the Ordinary: Spectacular Craft’ show.

Fobert’s best work often seems to come out of the innovativeresolution of problems and the design for ‘The Upright Figure’ was noexception. The life-size sculptures were to be exhibited in thetremendous volume of the 30-metre (98.4-foot) high Turbine Hall sothey could easily be diminished by their setting. Two freestandingsteel walls introduced both a new scale to the space and a differentbackdrop, while the figures were grouped on a series of large steeltrays, without plinths, so the viewer could address the sculptures ateye level. The scale may be completely different, but this ability toboth designate and unify a space through the use of one material andby slicing the volume is directly related to the design of the Andersonand Kander houses. The practice’s acute spatial dexterity sometimestranscends typologies.

Following the Tate exhibitions, JFA was awarded commissions forextensions to two high-profile galleries. The design for Kettle’s Yard inCambridge, commissioned in 2004 but pending further financialinvestment, introduces education facilities, a café and archive spacebehind the facade of a Victorian terrace. It clearly re-emphasisesFobert’s ability to reinvent interior volumes and draw light intorestrictive shells. A year later, the practice won the competition todesign a major extension to Tate St Ives, which achieves visitorvolumes three times those anticipated when the gallery opened in1993. The project has been delayed, particularly due to concerns

Tate St Ives extension, Cornwall, 2005–The current Tate building, with its distinctive circular space, is in theforeground of the model. Immediately behind the curved section, alink runs up the hill towards JFA’s new extension. The roof rises intofive sections that will provide long strips of glazing, arranged so thatnatural lighting will not fall directly on to the walls at any point.

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Faha Farmhouse, County Clare, Ireland, 2007Having created new residences within existingboundaries, Jamie Fobert Architects were presentedwith a fresh set of residential criteria by the FahaFarmhouse: elevations would have to be considered, aswould the view of the exterior from above. The set ofbuildings was carefully orientated at a slant to open upviews of the surrounding countryside. An extension tothe existing farmhouse replaced metal barns, withFobert choosing to respond to the agricultural typologywith a zinc and timber building. He says, though: ‘Theinternal experience is still the most important. Interiordrives the exterior and provides the spatial importance.’The living space steps up the gradient of the hillsideand is thereby theatrically raised from the floor level ofthe entry point. The materials and finishes, such as theblack, local Liscannor stone flooring, reflect the ruggedwest coast setting and the need for the house towithstand non-pristine farming life.

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Konditor & Cook, London, 2007The cake-makers Konditor & Cook hired JFA to design a café and cake shop on the ground floor of Foster + Partners’ ‘Gherkin’ building.Designing within such a building, and dealing with the problems of the curved shape, would put off many architects, but JFA wasundaunted and followed its usual practice of allowing an innovative response to grow out of the topography and its restraints. Thearchitects managed to both emphasise the shape of the building and create something independent of it by introducing an unusualmezzanine level above the café area. The mezzanine, which houses the cake-decoration section and kitchen, floats within the 8-metre(26.2-foot) high space and is entirely encased in multiplanar stainless steel, the angles of which make the best use of the curved space.Fobert describes it as taking a rectangular shape and crumpling it to create a new form. Below, the café features block end-grain oakflooring and bespoke black steel and black glass tables, designed by JFA, which are sympathetic to the surrounding Gherkin.

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that the new building will lead to the loss of a set ofpermit-holders’ parking bays, but hopefully thecommission will give the practice the chance to showthat the integrity of its architectural language carriesthrough to newbuilds on a large scale. Residents may beconcerned that a large building among largelyresidential dwellings will be overbearing, but it is hard tothink of another practitioner who will be able to combineinnovation with such an intuitive understanding oftopography. The roof, serrated with strip lanterns, will becovered with local slate, while the roofline itself doesnot rise above the surrounding level.

From its inception, the practice has also pursuedcommercial retail projects. From 1997 to 2005 itdesigned a series of stores and department storeconcessions for Aveda, an international companyproducing organic beauty products. JFA designed threeLondon stores as well as outlets in Aberdeen and Berlin.The remit was to work within existing buildings, withminimum construction. The practice extemporised thevery clean image of the brand, which emphasises thenature and purity of its products, through the optimumuse of glazing, solid wood tables, stainless steel andpolished concrete, which was used for furnishingelements as well as floors and piers. Other commercialprojects have been wide ranging, including a bar, officedevelopments and retail, including a Paris store forGivenchy in 2008.

Recently, JFA has designed a cake shop for Konditor& Cook. The practice’s ability to work within existingstructures was here tested once again, this time becausethe shop and café was to be housed within Lord Foster’sSwiss Re Building at 30 St Mary Axe. Fobert is unfazed

by having to relate his ideas to the pre-existing designs ofarchitectural heavyweights – he previously redesigned two floors of amaisonette that already featured a ground floor designed by JohnPawson. For Konditor & Cook he drew inspiration from an aspect ofhis own office design: straight lines are drawn from points of thefamous curving exterior to create an angular floating mezzanine level.The resultant design is surprising and adventurous, but refrains fromseeking to create conflict with the shell.

Along with Chipperfield, Fobert is aware that too manycontemporary architects, and clients, appear to be trying to createready-made icons, rather than allowing good architecture to speak foritself and be judged by history. Fobert goes a step further: ‘We are notlooking to innovate. Ever. Innovation in its own right has no interestfor me. I am looking to resolve the design of the site – the innovationcomes as a way of resolving things.’ This is the key to his success:because his buildings are resolved from the inside out, there is asophisticated, multilayered harmony between the essential purposeof a building, the new aesthetic and the existing environment. Hemay go on to become famous for ravishing newbuilds, but workingthrough the contortions and restrictions of existing structures hasclearly honed an integrity that takes his designs way beyond thesensational or temporary. One can only hope that the protractednegotiations in St Ives and the lack of money for Kettle’s Yard do notturn the practice away from the public arena because Fobert couldprove to be a master of appropriate urbanism. 4+

Howard Watson is an author, journalist and editor based in London. He is co-author,with Eleanor Curtis, of the new 2nd edition of Fashion Retail (Wiley-Academy, 2007),£34.99. See www.wiley.com. Previous books include The Design Mix: Bars, Cocktails andStyle (2006), and Hotel Revolution: 21st-Century Hotel Design (2005), both alsopublished by Wiley-Academy.

Text © 2008 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Images: pp 116, 120 © Denis Gilbert/VIEW; pp116(inset), 119, 121 © Courtesy of Jamie Fobert Architects; p 117 © Sue Barr; p 118© Andrew Putler

Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge, 2004– Kettle’s Yard is a consciously relaxed space for people toenjoy art, rather than a formal gallery or museum.Education is an important part of its remit and a set ofVictorian terraces next door have been purchased with aview to creating extended education facilities and a café.While maintaining the original facade, JFA’s design willform complex volumes from essentially flat spaces in anew building: a mixture of single- and double-height,highly glazed spaces will create unusual perspectiveswhile drawing a great deal of necessary light into thebuilding. The children’s education room, glazed fromboth the street and the lobby, will be on the groundfloor and will rise up through the next level, while thefirst-floor café will be pulled back and glazed to provideviews over the main volume. The client was givenconfidence by what JFA managed to achieve behind theVictorian facade of the Kander House.