Vision

We’re award-winning architects with a strong belief in the power of architecture to change all our lives for the better. Working alongside our clients, we create robust and elegant buildings which allow people to thrive.

We know that a new building can be a significant undertaking, and we take pleasure in guiding our clients through the creative and building processes. We ask the right questions, listen carefully, and help our clients distil and realise their vision. And we understand the importance of respecting their budget and time-frame.

We work with private clients, estates, commercial organisations, entrepreneurs, cultural institutions, and charities. We deliver at every stage, from detailed planning applications to co-ordination of tenders and construction details, to interior design. We’ve developed creative partnerships with industry partners we trust, and we believe in collaboration to maximise the potential of each project.

We embrace the challenge of coming up with contemporary responses to historic settings, whether historic, urban or rural. We’re interested in the people who will live and work in our buildings, and we think about how our designs will work far into the future. By using our experience, our expertise and our imagination, we create beautiful buildings which are efficient to run, improve health and well being, and stand the test of time. Gluckman Smith is a Limited Liability Partnership and a RIBA Chartered Practice.

Sitting on the crest of a hill overlooking the Welland Valley, this Grade I listed 15th century home supports a vibrant summer opera festival within a fine former stables. After ten years of operation the client approached Gluckman Smith to initiate plans to replace the existing temporary theatre structure with a permanent venue.

The new theatre will be contained within the stable courtyard. A 400 seater auditorium on three levels is proposed, drawing inspiration from the intimate nature of regency theatres such as The Theatre Royals in Richmond and Bury St Edmunds. The design involves roofing the courtyard with a lightweight steel and glass structure that spans discreetly below the ridges of the existing stable blocks.

The design involves roofing the courtyard with a lightweight steel and glass structure that spans discreetly below the ridges of the existing stable blocks. While the existing tent theatre masks the former stable courtyard, the proposal now exposes the historic features of the stable elevations and celebrates them as part of a unique opera experience.

Locat ion : Nevill Holt, Leicestershire, UK

Team Pro jec t : Momentum, Charcoalblue, Skelly & Couch, Gleeds Cost Management, The Fire Surgery, Rural Solutions, Nicholas Worlledge, Oculus

Country House Opera Theatre

Left: Concept development for courtyard roof, negotiating the interface between old and new.

Right: Test model for structural concept.

Below: Floorplan for theatre seating.

o r c h e s t r a

Right: Regency theatre type. Richmond theatre in north Yorkshire.

Below right: Roof canopy: Mies Van Der Rohe, Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin.

Below: Proposed internal elevation of courtyard with historic stone walls in the background.

Sitting on the crest of a hill overlooking the Welland Valley, this Grade I listed 15th century home supports a vibrant summer opera festival within a fine former stables. Gluckman Smith were invited to prepare concept designs for the replacement of the existing temporary structure with a permanent theatre within the stables courtyard.

Proposals for a 400 seater auditorium were developed, drawing inspiration from the intimate nature of regency theatres such as The Theatre Royals in Richmond and Bury St Edmunds.

Left: Digital sketch proposal of the view from the back of the theatre.

Argal Workshop

Gluckman Smith were approached by the emerging furniture and product design practice James Smith Designs to transform Argal, a former farmstead, into a vibrant and inspirational place to live and work outside Falmouth in Cornwall.

Proposals are threefold: the creation of a new and highly specified workshop facility, the integration into a traditional barn of studios for local creative enterprises and artist residencies, and the alteration and refurbishment of the farmhouse to provide a contemporary family home. The workshop and studio concept forms part of a wider cultural endeavour underway in the area that includes Kestle Barton and CAST.Placed perpendicular to the barn the new workshop is bold in formal expression yet reminiscent of the stable building that it proposes to replace. North facing skylights have been incorporated into the roofscape introducing a constant stream of daylight most suited to detail craftwork. A solid timber construction method is proposed and a high thermal performance targeted through a fabric-first approach to design.

Locat ion : Falmouth, Cornwall, UK

Team pro jec t : Whitehead Planning, Warm Low Energy Building Practice

Top left: Managing natural daylight.

Bottom left: Elevation of studios in practice.

Right: Alternative volumes for workshop and studios

Sketch Proposals

Coffee

Yoga

Workshop

Workshop

Westbourne Terrace

Comprehensive refurbishment of a second floor apartment within an 1840s terrace. The project entailed full reconfiguration of the internal space via removal of all internal walls. A highly efficient sequence and layout of spaces was crafted to convert a one-bedroom flat into a two-bedroom home.

The exceptional ceiling height is celebrated throughout the apartment, resulting in the restoration of original cornice work and ceilings. The introduction of a stained oak parquet floor and the use of 2.4m high traditional doors serve to harmonise the series of spaces. Historic hearths were uncovered to restore focus to the two reception room, with substantial double doors providing versatility and flow.

Locat ion : Bayswater, London, UK

Team pro jec t : Fothergill Structural Engineers, Mansel Land Construction, James Smith Designs

Left: New room organisation bringing improved flow to the space.

Right: Before and after floor plans.

Internal layout before the intervention

Internal layout after refurbishment

Above left: Pocket door to the kitchen.

Below left: Door detailing.

Above right: Dining Room.

Below right: Floor detailing.

Cotswold Barn

Westington Hill Farm is an early nineteenth century stone threshing barn in open country above Chipping Campden in the Cotswolds. The brief required the removal of modern agricultural buildings and transformation of a derelict stone barn into a family home.

Preservation of the character of the barn required a considered strategy to incorporate two new build wings providing accommodation and additional living spaces in such a way that celebrated and centred the barn both in terms of the internal layout and its presence in the landscape.

The barn itself required careful handling to convert. The elm roof structure was carefully reconstructed, most timbers being retained, and the roof recovered in reclaimed clay tiles. Lime render was repaired and reinstated to the internal walls and extensive lime mortar pointing required to the external walls. Local materials were used where possible. Stone excavated from the groundworks is laid throughout with heating via a Ground Source Heat Pump. A green roof is sown with a Cotswold upland grass and wildflower mix to augment the local habitat.

Locat ion : Chipping Campden, Gloucestershire, UK

Team pro jec t : Tall Structural Engineers, David Smith Associates, Press & Starkey, Colvin & Moggridge, Rupert Golby, J. Rigg Construction

Top right: Stairway set into hillside.

Below right: View of finished project showing complimentary materials.

Bottom: Site plan.

Above: Courtyard of existing barn in centre with new wings.

Top left: Curved stone staircase.

Top right: Internal view point, looking out to rural surrounding landscape.

Below: Master bedroom, en-suite bathroom and bath cupboard.

Above: Living Room

Below: Elevation

Ludwig Reiter Shoe Store

Design of the first UK store for the Viennese fine leather shoe-maker, Ludwig Reiter. The proposals involved conversion of a former café into a fully-functioning boutique within a very tight programme. The proposals involved a new shopfront façade and complete interior redesign.

A bespoke metal and glass shelving and articulated mirror system was designed to provide display of all stock on the shopfloor, a strategy devised to celebrate the artisanal nature of the business and maximise the scope for interaction between staff and clientele.

Locat ion : Mayfair, London, UK

Team pro jec t : Julian Church Cost Consultants, Crane Interiors

Left: Bespoke metal and glass shelving.

Right: Product display

Below: Concept sketch for interior.

Adam and Eve Mews

Renovation and reorganisation of a 19th century Kensington Mews house. Working in a tight site with a small footprint, the internal volume of the house was rearranged to maximize floor area and natural light. Through a tactical rearrangement of floor levels, a basement storey was inserted which also enjoys street frontage and external views.

Careful room organisation and material choice, such as limed oak flooring and glass handrails, have given the mews house a new sense of space and brightness.

Additional accommodation was created within a basement fronting the street, concealed behind timber louvres street front by right.

Locat ion : Kensington, London, UK

Top right: Section through staircase.

Bottom right: Street view.

Below: Section through staircase.

Top right: Glazed roof allowing natural light to flow into the top floor.

Below: Bright living space

Miscellany

Door hanDle

The Practice has developed designs for a door handle and ironmongery suite. The concept for the door handle draws on techniques and materials used in traditional shotgun fabrication. Contemporary draughting and manufacturing technologies have been harnessed to these traditional skills to produce a strikingly contemporary product.

A hand-crafted steel mechanism and walnut grip are combined to form a robust yet sleek and tactile object. The design embodies the refined finish found in exquisite hand-made shotguns, where touch, weight, balance and temperature form the experience of handling. The timber grip emulates the warmth of the gun stock.

Pembridge House Notting Hill, London, uK

Gluckman Smith obtained planning permission for the amalgamation of two semi-detached London townhouses to form a single dwelling of just under 10,000sq ft.

The design reconfigured the internal layout of the new single residence with an additional floor beneath the footprint of the new house. A centralised and top lit stairwell offers a key point of focus around which a series of well proportioned living spaces are organised.

The excavation of a basement with a substantial natural lightwell to the rear provides further accommodation and spaces including a swimming pool complex, gym and wine cellar.

Refurbishment and conversion of a listed 18th century barn to form artist studios at the Hampshire home of an artist and photographer couple. The interiors of this attractive Malmstone and brickwork building were sensitively reconfigured to provide two studios, a dark room and a shared ante-room. The character of the barn was retained internally through a selective expression of the historic fabric and externally through limited alterations.

Secondary slim-frame aluminium glazing was introduced to admit natural light allowing the former stable doors to remain. Internally, walls were limewashed and high-grade birch ply used to form internal partitions to the studios. Pivot hinges and discreet ironmongery were employed to provide a calm, contemporary finish.

Chapel Cottage petersfield, hampshire

Elsynge Road is celebrated as a site for Victorian show-homes as part of the Great Exhibition of 1851. The property had been neglected for some time and required complete restoration and redesign. Key areas of work involved new openings to a dark and damp lower ground floor, recreating it as an attractive and bright family space. A new and intimate relationship between the living space and the garden was also established, with new access and slim frame sliding glass panels.

ElsyngE Road housE Wandsworth, london

HigHlever road latimer road, london

YuFei’s boutique is arranged as a hierarchy of intimate spaces in which fine jewellery pieces are displayed and enjoyed. The design is informed by a contemporary response to elements of the Classic Gardens of Suzhou in Jiangsu province, China.

On arrival at the boutique, clients are welcomed into a small reception, partitioned with fine screens, providing subtle glimpses of the illuminated works beyond. A network of translucent screens creates a series of semi-partitioned spaces and pathways to follow through the boutique. Discreet views of work are provided as the client passes around the screens.

This sequence of preview spaces leads to the Dressing Room where guests are invited to a dressing table to view items more intimately. The Dressing Room is a discreet and indulgent space. There is a luxurious quality to the texture of surfaces and materials, and lighting. Colours and touch are married with elegant movement.

Complete refurbishment and extension of an end of terrace family house dating from 1905. Unmodernised since the 1950s, the corner house on Highlever Road was in a state of decay when Gluckman Smith were first engaged. Significant water damage and decades of neglect were halted and renovations begun. Works included the addition of a carefully proportioned side extension and occupation of the roof void, to consolidate the house into a modern family home.

Care was taken to preserve valuable architectural details where possible. “Squeeze” profile copies of original cornices were taken to replace damaged and missing cornice sections with exact replicas; the side extension was constructed from reclaimed imperial soft red rubber bricks to match the existing house and original tiling uncovered and restored. Sections of ceiling were removed in the first floor bedrooms to create bright double height spaces lined with tongue and groove timber.

YuFei F ine JewellerY Boutique Shangai, China

Shimmer material system

Shimmer explores the use of reflective fabrics as a component for clothing and lightweight architectural structures.

Fabrics are created from reflective textiles which are cut, articulated or tessellated to produce a surface that shimmers as it reflects light. Subtle movements and air flowing over its surface produce a myriad of reflections and shimmering effects.

Sauna Torridon Hill, Scotland

Located on the remote shores of Loch Clair, deep within the Northwest Highlands of Scotland, is a site selected for a new sauna. The proposal looks to optimise the extensive views across the landscape whilst maintaining a sense of intimacy desirable for the ideal sauna. Intense heat followed by a sprint down into the icey water provides the ritual sequence of a traditional sauna.

Timber is to be used as the primary construction material. With site access limited the proposal looks to incorporate the use of pre-fabricated technologies. The pitched roof form and red exterior finish resemble many of the vernacular agricultural buildings to be found in the area, suggestive also of the Scandinavian sauna tradition.

Robert has extensive experience of Planning and construction within London’s historic context. Before founding the practice with Tom, he worked at Squire and Partners where he was closely involved in the design of several highly crafted and bespoke mixed-use projects in Mayfair. He has also worked at Wilkinson Eyre and Richard Rogers in London, and at UrbanMark in Tallinn.

Having studied Mandarin Chinese at Oxford University, Robert lived and worked in Taiwan, travelling widely in East Asia. He went on to train as an architect at the Architectural Association in London and qualified in 2009 with Distinction.

Robert is interested in the scope for great architecture to promote health and well-being, whether in a domestic or work context. Built space and its relationship to the natural environment has the capacity to nourish us mentally and physically, and these are values that he aims to share through his work.

Tom brings a broad understanding of land, property and development to the practice, and he has a particular passion for architectural work with a contemporary resonance in rural and historic environments. Whether considering objects, buildings or landscapes, Tom seeks to capture the essence of place and convey it through the quality of architectural space to provide something of lasting value.

Tom grew up in the bucolic setting of a secluded valley in the Cotswold’s, and his experience is deeply rooted in landscape, especially that of the countryside. He studied Modern History at Oxford University, where specialism in History of Architecture propelled him onwards to the cosmopolitan environment of the Architectural Association. Extensive travel across both Europe and Asia has provided him with a recurring source of inspiration.

Tom worked for Rick Mather Architects and Charles Tashima Architecture in London, and for Channa Daswatte in Sri Lanka, before founding the practice with Robert in 2010.

RobeRt Gluckman ma (oxon) aa Dipl PgDp RIba

Thomas smiTh ma (oxon) aa Dipl PgDp RiBa

Design: Morse Studio

Copyright: Gluckman Smith

Photography: Rachael Smith David Fisher Gluckman Smith