When it comes to designing their own workplaces, architects are in a unique position, inhabiting the roles of both designer and client. Logic dictates that, barring schizophrenic episodes, the practice should end up with something resembling the original plans. Pull it off and the workspace becomes a life-size portfolio showing off the company’s expertise and style. Fail, and there can be no buck-passing onto an unsympathetic client. Running the gauntlet earlier this year was newly formed Chinese practice LYCS Architecture,…

A dramatic curtain wall sweeps through a cavernous atrium, its layered strips of timber evoking the strata of the earth’s crust. Carved out by Dutch architects Group A, it’s a reference to the work of their client, BP: this 9,000sq m office in The Netherlands pulls together previously disparate elements of the company into one gargantuan HQ. Despite hitting the headlines for an oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico and a subsequent tongue-lashing from President Obama, BP is expanding.…

Allford Hall Monaghan Morris (AHMM) has won planning from Southwark Council for an innovative development including office space and eight Passivhaus apartments overlooking Weston Street Park. The practice worked with AZ Urban Studio who acted as planning consultants on the project. The design features landscaped courtyards for the office areas, double height internal spaces, winter gardens, balconies and roof terraces to residential areas. AHMM’s Head of Sustainability Nic Crawley said: ‘Weston Street is a great example of how the integration…