A London-based architecture and urbanism practice with studios in London, Cambridge and Manchester, behind the King's Cross masterplan and the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park legacy plan.
Allies and Morrison describes itself in three words: "We are architects and urbanists." It designs buildings and plans places, from single buildings to new parts of cities. Its disciplines include architecture, urbanism, conservation, interiors, landscape, visualisation and urban research. The practice was founded in 1984 by Bob Allies and Graham Morrison, who had won an open competition in 1983 for a public landscape at The Mound in Edinburgh. It is led by partners, with Jo Bacon as managing partner.
Its stated aims are about the long term. It wants to make buildings with long lives that can adapt over generations, and places that last. Its own list of values includes longevity and adaptability, craft and attention to detail, sustainability, collaboration and inclusion. The practice points to a Passivhaus approach (a very low-energy way of building) at Ash Court, Girton College in Cambridge, and it has published a Diversity and Inclusion Statement. Its studios use "white tables" where teams talk through ideas together.
The main base is in Bankside, London, in four connected buildings. There is also a Cambridge studio in a former granary on Laundress Lane and a studio in Manchester. The practice has further offices overseas, in Dublin, Jeddah and Toronto. Well-known British projects include the masterplan for King's Cross, the legacy masterplan for the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and Stratford Waterfront, New Court for Rothschild Bank in the City of London, White City Place and Imperial College London's White City campus, and the Old Press and Mill Lane masterplan for the University of Cambridge. It has also worked for the universities of Oxford and Cambridge and for the University of the Arts London.
People are a big part of the story. The practice says it has over 300 staff from more than 30 nationalities, speaking 40 languages. It describes a yearly summer study trip to a different place, an annual lecture series, weekly yoga, fortnightly drinks and charity bake sales. Staff teach in schools through Open City's Architecture in Schools programme and at the London School of Architecture, and the practice sponsors the Dulwich Picture Gallery's Drawing in Schools programme. All of this is the practice's own description, not independently checked.
A practice with this range employs architects, urbanists and masterplanners, conservation specialists, interior and landscape designers, visualisation artists who produce images and models of future places, researchers, and the finance, communications and administration teams that support the studios. If you like geography, history, art, maths or understanding why some places feel good to be in, this is the kind of work being done. Current vacancies are listed on the practice's own website.
Website: alliesandmorrison.com
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