‘Crossing the Pond’ 20 Years On … Part 3 of 3

Continued from Part 1 and Part 2… 

Uncertainty and Change

The 1986 Big Bang had a positive effect on the UK economy, and the American firms that followed it were comfortably settled by 1999.   Since then, the British economy has cycled hot and cold. The most recent recession – the 2008 ‘Credit Crunch’ – was a sharp jolt to complacency, taking its toll on all UK-based architects and dispersing many to the Middle East or Asia for survival. The large American firms were not immune, and some are reported at the time to have dropped staff by as much as 80%.  

Having endured the Credit Crunch, today’s architects are now faced with an anxious global disquiet – economic uncertainty, unsettled political conditions and trade deterioration.  In the UK, general disquiet is overshadowed by the prospect of the UK leaving the European Union – or ‘Brexit’.  

The potential loss of European staff through immigration controls is of primary concern.  All UK-based architectural firms rely on a pool of talented individuals, but what happens when the ‘pool dries up’?  In the early 1980s, Stephan Reinke claims ‘anyone who could hold a pencil could get a job’, and until 2006, British citizenship was relatively easy to obtain.  Now more countries are putting up barriers and the visa situation has become a serious challenge.   

KPF’s Scalpel in context: London skyline continues to grow. (Photo credit: Hufton + Crow)

There is more than just concern for the economy and the practical issues of hiring staff. Many US architects worry that the special magic of London today will dissipate and the dynamics will change. ‘London grew and developed’ explains David Walker, ‘because huge financial effort went into making change happen, but it was not inevitable. On the surface it all still looks great and maybe it will be OK, but I am uneasy. Architects are still coming from America and around the world, but it is no longer that loving, inclusive place’.

Relocation, Relocation

An ironic twist to the American ‘invasion’ of the British market in the 1980s and 90s, has been the reverse infiltration – invasion is too strong a word – of the American market by British/European architects.  Stephan Reinke points out UK architects have been particularly successful in ‘penetrating the US with high end buildings – arts facilities; scientific laboratories; incredible transport hubs; high spec, complex buildings – rather than everyday works’. 

More than one participant cites as a prime example the British/European influence on that most iconic of US projects – the redevelopment of New York’s World Trade Center.  At one point in the competition’s convoluted history, 4 of the 5 shortlisted buildings were by British/European architects and only the centrepiece has resulted in an American design. Perhaps literally ‘the project from hell’, overwhelmed by national emotion and political hurricanes, the centrepiece was ultimately produced by SOM’s New York office.  

In today’s technically advanced age, there remains a question whether there is any need to physically relocate when working in another country, and the various American firms differ in their responses.  There is potential work for PLP Architecture in the US, but Lee Polisano insists that all international work would remain concentrated in London to preserve core identity and design strength.   

Sport Concepts’ Turkish Arena, Ankara: Designed in the UK

Michael Lischer works on large stadia and arenas scattered across the globe, making a base in London fundamentally convenient.  P+W is currently ‘localising’ and has sub offices in Dublin and Paris, each with its special area of expertise.  KPF maintains strong ties with its New York headquarters and there is frequent cross pollination of personnel.  After sampling the unpredictability of the international circuit, David Walker and Stephan Reinke both prefer working locally in London and the UK.  

Although Gensler retains London as a European hub, it has taken a different approach and grown organically to 49 global offices, insisting it works best when its designers are ‘close to the people they designs for’. As President of the AIA UK Chapter in 1999, Steven Steimer, AIA, Gensler did not pursue a British architectural license as he had believed an ARB and NCARB reciprocity agreement was pending. In another ironic twist, Steimer – who has stayed with Gensler but moved back to the US - is now rumoured to be working in London again, spearheading a local project.

Gensler’s Illumina Array: Combines tenant wellbeing and workplace needs.

Complex Identities   

British and European firms are making inroads into the US.  British firms hire individual US architects based on general qualifications, not American training.  US firms in the UK now rely on local UK or non-US staff. Talented US architects have started their own UK companies.  Office locations are of lessening relevance. Faced with this litany of changes from 1999, is the distinction ‘American architect’ at all relevant in today’s global market? 

The 1999 article alluded to prejudice against Americans.  Although this may linger in some quarters, it could be argued that over time concerns about national origin have simply lapsed into indifference. There is a general consensus that the overt, 1990s American influence on British architecture has long passed its peak.

David Walker has now spent half of his life in the UK, with the past 17 years in his own practice. He believes ‘this American thing is no longer relevant.  In fact, being American could still be a detriment’.  When asked outright if he was an American or British architect, he replied - after serious consideration - he feels more a British architect than an American one, but ‘if you ask my clients and other professionals who I work with, they would probably hesitate and settle on ‘American’’.  With a lighter note, he believes ‘some might hope I remain Canadian.’  

On the other hand, Stephen Reinke claims to be ‘probably the most quintessential American you could ever meet’; however, he maintains ‘there is no longer a particular American-ness in architecture.  Good clients quickly pass on from ‘are you an American?’ and accelerate to ‘do you know your stuff?’’. 

Samantha Cooke does not hesitate to describe herself matter-of-factly as ‘an American architect working in the UK’ but adds the qualification, ‘on projects everywhere but in Britain’.  Alex Miller says he will ‘always be from Texas.’ When asked what he is doing in the UK, he responds, ‘trying to be the best architect I can; my approach is US, but my experience is UK’.  

Whereas David Green felt compelled on arrival in the UK to draw attention to his British ancestry, he now recognises that ‘being an American in London is the perfect combination’.  Lee Polisano is unequivocal in his statement: ‘PLP is not hired because it is American – it is an office of individuals’ without any reference to national stereotypes.

Chris Harvey recalls the standing joke that Americans ‘can be heard coming, their cheerleader ‘rah rah’ voices at a volume two to three notches too high’.  It might be a slow process, but Americans can acclimatise - ‘they can calm down’.  In a journey not atypical of other architects, Harvey started in the US, worked on projects in Europe, moved to the Middle East, relocated to Chicago, returned to the UK for projects in China and is now safely ensconced in KPF.  Chris claims he is ‘American, but thinks British’ – or is this what it means to be a ‘citizen of the world’? 

Like David Walker, Kevin Flanagan has a Canadian backstory, and his tri-part American, British and European training also exposed him to ‘multiple views’ early in his career. Without actually claiming global citizenship, he simply resists national branding.  Steven Steimer, who was unavailable for comment, moved back to the US many years ago, and it can only be assumed that he has profited from his design experiences in the UK.

The range of responses to the question of national identity are perhaps inevitable. It is said - after living in a foreign country - national identity begins to blur as local conditioning seeps into the sub conscience at varying rates.  It is also reported that the US diplomates are discouraged from foreign assignments over four years, least they return with non-American thought patterns. Although unscientific, random sampling suggests Americans living in Britain stop hearing British accents after two years and hear American ones instead.  However, there is no indication that any of this has a permanent effect on architectural quality. 

When asked the direct question ‘is the distinction ‘American architect’ still relevant in today’s global market’, Justin Cratty does not query his Americanism, but - believing the UK title ‘architect’ is often too restrictive –  queries whether he remains an architect at all given his deviation from a traditional role.  

Perhaps, Alex Miller speaks for all when he confronts the relevance of the question itself. ‘Shouldn’t this’ he asks, ‘be about the challenges in the global market to the architectural profession as a whole? The way I see it, it is simply no longer about being American.’

Yes - but then - that would be an even longer, continuing story …

Written by: Lorraine Dale King, AIA – ‘I was here years before the 1999 article and in the years since have contributed my share to the London skyline as an American woman in the British construction industry.  I still retain my American accent - if nothing else - despite 37 years of acclimatisation’.  

‘Crossing the Pond’ 20 Years On … Part 2 of 3

Continued from Part 1… 

Addressing Design

In 1999, Stuart Lipton, then with the developer Stanhope, while admiring of American implementation skills, was particularly scathing in his remark on American design, claiming that ‘a number of American practices have been producing pastiche … their designs are often very boring, mundane and inappropriate’, but his negative words were also echoed in contemporary comments by the US architects themselves.  One freely admitted, ‘much braver work is being done by the Europeans’. 

 As the American firms settled in, the original Chicago prototype lost its allure, and - in response to increasing emphasis on design performance -  American firms opened their approaches to local conditions and beyond. Today’s architects shortlist a few key ideas - ‘innovation’, ‘local sensibilities,’ ‘local regulations’ and ‘life quality issues’ – to start the discussion.  Yet – arguably - the most important change has been an update in mindset.

Innovation as the Key: Eugene Kohn, FAIA, Principle at KPF, acknowledged as early as 1999, ‘to win competitions, your designs must be technologically and environmentally innovative’. Reiterating the importance of innovation today, Chris Harvey, AIA, KPF (one time SOM) explains that ‘The rules for a basic commercial building are easy to follow,’ he says, ‘butin idiosyncratic London – with its quirky streets and contextual mix – Miesian boxes are just out of place. Good design boils down to how you innovate – through technology or by typology, facades, massing … or by whatever other creative means’.

KPF’s Sixty London (Amazon Headquarters): Designing in a quirky environment. (Photo credit: Tim Soar)

Harvey stresses the importance of teamwork and collaboration with other disciplines as an aid to innovation and finds London – with its rich mixture of professional support and global connections – appreciative of this approach.  

As an example, Kevin Flanagan at PLP Architecture has been instrumental in collaborative research with structural engineers and Cambridge University’s Department of Architecture on the use of timber structures in tall buildings – the ‘Oakwood Timber Tower Series’.  Starting off as a feasibility study, the research is now bearing fruit with a 35 storey timber building in the works for the Netherlands. Independently, David Walker has consulted specialist consultants and subcontractors before submitting plans for high-rise, timber office building – Tenter House -  in London and is anticipating approval shortly. 

PLP Architecture’s Oakwood Timber Tower / David Walker’s Tenter House: Innovation in material usage.

PLP Architecture’s Amsterdam headquarters for Deloitte - the Edge – has been described as ‘officially, the greenest office building in the world’ (Blomberg 2015), but it owes its reputation as a building people want to work in to its highly wired, connected and adaptive working environments and its ability to integrate with emerging technology.  It was agreed by all that innovation - in a world beset by new ideas -requires constant awareness and collaboration with engineers, technology designers and other professionals.

Awareness of Sensibilities:  Lee Polisano links better local understanding to long term commitment.  Whereas some early Americans ‘had a come-and-go and come-and-go again attitude’, he notes, ‘we never left’.  Other US architects also exhibit long term commitment, but those with the longest history – in particular, those with personal ties or independent practices – honour the local ethos most strongly.  

Although cultural sensibilities are impossible to isolate and define, their design importance is acknowledged by all participants.  Alex Miller describes how ‘the architectural sensitivity here is just all together finer grained’.  He chooses as an example a neighbourhood renovation where ‘it was necessary to select the brick not just for the area or the project, but for that side of that end of that particular street’. 

Understanding Local Regulations:  In 1999, Stephan Reinke bemoaned the ‘vagaries’ of the British planning process.   In 2019, he applauds today’s even more involved process, requiring mastery of 30 or so ‘seriously intellectual, scientific and academic applications covering everything from environmental and social issues to precise building components,’ but which gives depth to UK-based projects.  

KPF’s recently completed office building - the Scalpel (Lime Street) - achieves its non-Miesian blade geometry partly in response to planning restraints.  Its form respected the views of St Paul’s Cathedral from every possible angle, reflecting a particularly British obsession now taken on by an American firm for an American corporate client. 

KPF’s Scalpel (52 Lime Street) London: Designing in a non-Miesian world. (Photo credit: Antoine Buchet)

Emphasising Life Quality Issues: In 1999, M J Long, AIA, Long and Kentish, wrote, ‘I came to Britain initially because architects were involved in a social programme’. Karen Cook also came to the UK searching for a professional environment not preoccupied with 1980s style, but focused on social issues – in her case, ‘quality of living’. Her 1980s work in Europe grounded her in environmental sustainability and generated guidelines for workplace design – ‘natural daylight, exposed ceilings, non-toxic materials, underfloor ventilation…’ – a preliminary list being expanded as Cook and others finesse the requirements.

PLP Architecture and Gensler: Karen Cook, AIA, Justin Cratty, AIA. (Photo credit: L King)

Aware of people increasingly rebelling against ‘slaving away like battery chickens in factory like offices, Cook believes ‘everyone now wants a better way of living’, and companies, developers and – in particular – architects can no longer ignore the social and environmental issues of the workplace.  Justin Cratty – who supports scientists by creating ‘best possible’ laboratory designs – echoes Cook’s sentiments, but is also concerned his efforts are seen only as a sub consultancy.  Despite indications that workspace design could dominate the coming decade, he sees many mainstream architects continuing to concentrate on the larger scale.  

For 22 Bishopsgate - recently described as London’s ‘smartest’ building (J Morrison, the Times, Mar 2018) - Cook uses layers of technology, to create an environment that people want to work both in and around - as evidenced by two quick examples.  At the workspace scale, workers are able to control how much light and heat they receive in their immediate surroundings. At the building scale, its ‘modest’ but highly engineered shape prevents wind gusts disrupting the pedestrian levels. Add to this cyclist showers, a food market, a climbing wall, medical and dental facilities and you have a building with ‘a social agenda’.

Cook’s commitment to a quality environment has earned accolades from Sir Stuart Lipton, now with developers Lipton Rogers.  In a comment pointedly less scathing on American design than that previously quoted from 1999, he praises 22 Bishopsgate as being ‘designed to enhance the quality of life of its occupants by adding amenities which make the work experience more enjoyable and effective’ (PLP Website).

Location, Location 

Eugene Kohn wrote in the 1999 article, ‘before the late 1980s, there were only a handful of Americans working abroad’.  Many of those firms setting up offices in the UK in the 1980s and 90s developed a taste for international work and continue to use London as a ‘springboard’ to Europe and beyond.  

In 1988, when David Walker arrived, London could best be described as ‘parochial’.  He remembers the charm, but laughs when he recalls that ‘it could take 3 months just to install a phone line’.  But London has changed.  If London in 1999 could be considered ‘an international city’, today it has gone global and the Americans have also benefited from the change. 

London has a lucky combination of location, time zone, travel links and language that gives it international prominence and allows firms located here to reach out in all directions.  Today’s architects variously describe it as ‘a place for all times’, ‘a confluence of architectural energy’, ‘a melting pot of all cultures’ and ‘a working nirvana’.  Less laudatory, but more practically, ‘it is a place where things can happen’.

KPF’s London Office: Design Director, Chris Harvey, AIA / Associate Principle Alex Miller AIA / Senior Associate Principle, Samantha Cooke, AIA. (Photo credit: L King / C. Fiallos)

Technological advances over the 20 years since the article appeared have profoundly changed both US and UK practices. These include not only the Internet, but also 3-D modelling, BIM and other techniques that require less reliance on co-locating with projects.  As Justine M Kingham, AIA, now returned to Washington DC with her own practice, acknowledges, ‘the very development of CAD streamlined the architectural process, and allowed firms to bounce work across different time zones from UK to Hong Kong’.  

 KPF’s London office today illustrates the importance of London as the ‘springboard’.  Maintaining its global identity since 1989, the practice has at least one-half the office working on international projects.  The workplace demographics adapt to changing project requirements and - at times - a majority might be non-American and perhaps only a small percentage of these would be British.

Although KPF’s Asian and Middle Eastern clients value its American expertise and reputation for big towers and master plans, they also aspire to architecture with a ‘slightly more European sensibility’ and the special character of the London office widens their choice.   Whereas the British might only hear KPF’s American accent, Samantha Cooke, AIA, KPF, believes that ‘our international clients perceive us as subtly European’.   According to their logic, a practice based in a converted building in fashionable Covent Garden - combined with all the  technical expertise and innovation on hand in London - offers the best of all worlds. 

KPF’s Floral Court, Covent Garden: An assemblage of historic and new buildings around a newly-created courtyard and pedestrian route in the Covent Garden Conservation Area. (Photo credit: Tim Soar)

Michael Lischer, FAIA, Sport Concepts (HOK in 1999), puts it succinctly, ‘I could live and work anywhere and still do what I do, but - buried back in mid-west USA - it would just not be the same’.   ‘London’, adds David Walker, ‘is a city of subliminal influences that manifests themselves in our way of creating, and you cannot underestimate the importance of that synergy’.  

While there has been equal access to London and its success is not an American achievement, Americans based in the UK can partake of and increase London advantages - if they live up to more intensive global competition. Looking into the future, Lee Polisano speaks of up and coming, talented Asian firms, while Samantha Cooke sees a future where Chinese language skills could be valued more than English. 

 Specialise or Diversify?

Specialise: A smaller group of American firms have developed or retained specialist expertise to survive.  Michael Lischer has long concentrated on the design of sports facilities – a sector centred on American expertise then and still identified with it.  However, today, he faces more and more competition and has branched out into upstream consulting work – ‘specialising within a speciality’. 

P+W: David Green, AIA.

Following a different approach from American firms arriving in the1980s that brought their own staffs, P+W simply acquired a traditional UK practice in 2013 and imported only key US personnel.  

David Green, AIA, P+W, explains that the firm maintains its core interior and commercial work, but grew the UK office by specialising in science and health care facilities. As with UK financial services that required new facilities following the ‘Big Bang’, new funding relationships between laboratories and universities have opened up opportunities for American expertise.

Currently, P+W has a technological edge, but the question remains in the back of Green’s mind, ‘when will this advantage end’? 

Diversify: In the 1999 article, the architectural critic, Kenneth Powell, wrote, ‘there has been a long standing preconception that these American practices do only commercial work.  But we are beginning to see them break free from this stereotype’. In the past two decades, the trend towards diversity has accelerated.   

Not only have individual American architects experimented with different forms within the corporate sector, they have thrown a broad net over all building types, sizes, shapes and colours to create an impressive array of American led design solutions.

ROW 1: KPF’s Floral Street, Office + Retail (Credit: Tim Soar) / SRA’s Clerkenwell Road, Offices / PLP Architecture’s Chiltern Place, Residential (Credit: PLP Architecture). 

ROW 2: PLP Architecture’s Francis Crick Institute, Laboratory (Credit: Anthony Weller, Archimage) / KPF’s Huanglong Vanke Centre, Retail Complex (Credit: Shiromio Studios). 

ROW 3: Sport Concepts’ Liverpool Arena / DWA’s  Tenter House (Credit: Tim Soar). 

ROW 4: KPF’s The Scalpel, Commercial  (Credit: Hufton + Crow) / Gensler’s Microsoft Ireland (Credit: Gareth Gardner) / Gensler’s Steven Lawrence Centre (Credit: Gareth Gardner). 

ROW 5: DWA’s Riverbank House, Commercial (Credit: Tim Soar) / Gensler’s Adobe London (Credit: Mark Cocksedge) / PLP Architecture’s Farrington East, Crossrail Station (Credit: PLP Architecture). 

ROW 6: Perkins + Will’s Milton Park, Offices + Technology Complex (Credit: Tim Soar) / PLP Architecture’s Sky Central, Offices + Broadcasting  (Credit: PLP Architecture). 

ROW 7: Gensler’s Microsoft Ireland (Credit: Gareth Gardner) / KPF’s Which Headquarters, Offices  (Credit: Hufton + Crow).

Written by: Lorraine Dale King, AIA

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‘Crossing the Pond’ 20 Years On … Part 1 of 3

In 1986, the deregulation of the UK financial markets – the ‘Big Bang’ – generated a massive building boom, and US architects began arriving in London in increasing numbers.  By 1993, their growth had reached critical mass and the AIA UK Chapter was established. Six years later in 1999, the presence of US architects in London was no longer just a side story; the Americans were here for the long term.  

‘Crossing the Pond’, written for Architectural Record twenty years ago, celebrated the success of large American architectural firms in the UK and reported the local market’s reaction to their ‘invasion’.  This update article revisits those who took part in the original conversation – architects from (among others) SOM, KPF, HOK, Swanke Hayden Connell and Gensler - and reassesses their comments in light of today’s views.  (Read original article, AR July 1999, HERE.) 

[A summary list of current participants is included HERE. Their names are underlined on first reference and their comments italicised in the following narrative.]

‘The experience of the Americans working in England’, the original article asserted, ‘speaks volumes about the differences between American and British architectural practice’, but – after two decades - is it time to reconsider its analysis?  

Differing Practices 

In the 1999 article, the American approach was characterized as ‘large scale’ and ‘fast track’ with ‘current technology’, ‘contemporary comfort standards’, ‘modern procurement’ and ‘greater attention to detail’.  Today, David Leventhal, FAIA, PLP (KPF in 1999), simplifies this, citing ‘larger plans, taller floor heights, fancy lobbies and sparse materials – it was Chicago replicated in London’.  

Most of today’s participants agree with Stephan Reinke, FAIA RIBA, Stephan Reinke Architects (HOK in 1999), and David Walker, RIBA, David Walker Architects (SHC in 1999), that the early American success in producing large scale, open plan, speculative office buildings was attributable to the technological skills and know-how of the US trained architects at the time. 

The first four presidents of the AIA UK Chapter 1992-1996, clockwise from upper left: Stephan Reinke, FAIA RIBA / David Walker, RIBA / Justine Kingham, AIA / Michael Lischer FAIA. (Photo credit: L King)

US architects had also credited part of their success to personal qualities – ‘problem solving abilities’, ‘can do attitude’, ‘higher productivity’, ‘sense of urgency’ and ‘entrepreneurial spirit’.  Whether these traits are solely American or responsible for American success is debateable; however, in the 1980s and early 90s, American architects did have an attraction to local clients. As Stuart Lipton, then with the developer Stanhope, cautioned at the time ‘there is really no point if the people working on your project do not have experience on a US building project. We are hiring the Americans for their implementation skills.’   

Accepting that local architects trailed the Americans in how to ‘draw a building, present a building, detail a building’, Lee Polisano, FAIA RIBA, PLP (KPF in 1999), recognises that branding the lighter, faster approach at Broadgate as ‘American’ also suited a developer’s narrative ‘brilliantly’.  However, he cautions as simplistic the assumption that all US firms came to London with the same intention of recreating American cityscapes. 

By 1999, the initial surge of experienced US staff in the UK offices of US firms had slowed.  Ten years previously, at least half of SOM’s London staff were imported from the US, but a British economic downturn and the practical burdens of doing business in the UK – significant ex-pat packages, the high cost of living, work permit difficulties and the lack of reciprocity – reduced the inflow of US architects, and compelled the major American firms to rely on British or European talent.  According to David Walker, even in larger firms, US experienced architects became a minority as they faced ‘an unending stream of technically talented – and less expensive - Europeans….’

David Walker Architects’ One Coleman Street: A curvilinear response to its site. (Photo credit: L King)

Skills Update  

Today, most participants accept US architects are ‘no longer being hired simply because they are American’.  Stephen Reinke contends their coming to the UK is now an ‘experiential, gig thing’ – taking advantage of cultural opportunities rather than offering a unique skill set.  Americans can be found across a range of London practices – including their own - and are no longer concentrated in the large US firms.

Speaking from a newer generation, Alex Miller, AIA, KPF, believes there is still an advantage in the UK for American-trained architects.   He maintains American architectural education ‘is more rounded, more strongly technical, more concentrated on drawings’, and his training conditions him to ‘ask pointed questions, leading to good solutions’.  Justin Cratty, AIA, Gensler, goes further, adding ‘broader’ and ‘more latitude’ to the list, suggesting that American students often study architecture after previous degrees or experience and ‘have a sense they can solve bigger problems rather than just design buildings’.  

Whether or not the broader education is advantageous, today’s architects quickly acknowledge that ‘problem solving abilities’ and those other positive qualities attributed to Americans by Americans in 1999 are actually characteristic of good architects everywhere regardless of national stereotypes.  

Evolving Approaches 

After nearly a decade working alongside Americans, Stuart Lipton concluded in the AR article that, ‘British architects have now surpassed the American practices.  They have a technical knowledge and design expertise that is far superior to [that of] the Americans’.  

 Although there is still discomfort with Lipton’s assessment, by 1999, serious UK architects had clearly awakened to the potential of speculative office buildings – a sector they had previously foresworn – and were bringing a new flavour to them.  Robert Schmidt, AIA, (SOM in 1999), now retired in Chicago, remembers ‘the UK/European staff were not afraid to question design decisions and offer their own thoughts, which resulted in a more dynamic and creative working environment’. 

Kevin P Flanagan, AIA FRAIC, PLP (KPF in 1999), does not see the differences in terms of national competing teams, but stresses the evolution of a British/American ‘hybridisation’ over the past decades.  ‘Whereas the Americans were considered better organised, familiar with larger projects and more business like’, he suggests, ‘American architects were also learning from the British attention to craftsmanship, organising of spatial experiences and working in an urban context’.  However, having absorbed from this past knowledge base, Flanagan insists global architecture should now ‘recognise we are in the 21st century’ and grasp today’s universal and pressing issues such as sustainability and quality of working environments.  

Other background factors - perceived by Americans in 1999 as drawbacks – encouraged UK-based architects to innovate.  According to Roger Kallman, AIA, SOM, the British planning system took longer, added no quality and tended to ‘defeat projects’.  Stephan Reinke explained that the US planning regulations were ‘prescriptive’ - designers were bound by strict rules; whereas the UK rules were ‘discretionary’ - designers could fulfil performance requirements via options.  Today, Justin Cratty agrees with Reinke the discretionary UK planning regime actually provides ‘a road to progressive improvements’ instead of tying architects down.  

High property costs in London were also raised in 1999 as a ‘potential project stopper’ by Susan Shoemaker, AIA.   However, David Walker suggests higher property costs lead to higher budgets, which in turn allows UK-based architects to work to a higher standard and a view to longevity.  One example is the uptake of European-engineered unitised systems by UK-based architects, which brought precision, factory-built facades with faster installation times, while at the same time encouraging environmental and design innovation. 

PLP Architecture’s Office: Partner, Kevin P Flanagan, AIA FRAIC / Founding Partner, Lee Polisano, FAIA RIBA / Founding Partner, David Leventhal, FAIA. (Photo credit: L King)

Moreover, European design influence was not limited to facades and construction technology.  There was also an emphasis on lifestyle and environmental issues that resonated not only with British designers, but with American firms such as KPF’s London office that designed exclusively for the continental market up to the late 1990s. 

KPF’s Thames Court featured in the 1999 article simply as a ‘spec office building’ designed by an American firm, but the article ignored its pioneering features.  Lee Polisano, however, points to its enhanced workplace environments, non-institutional organisation and even its operable windows as components of a ‘very non-American building’, evidence perhaps that American architects and their British / European colleagues were learning from each other. 

PLP Architecture’s 22 Bishopsgate: Approaching its final height May 2019, as seen from PLP’s office. (Photo credit: L King)

In light of the changing scene, how have the large American firms survived and even thrived in the highly competitive UK market?  Most have opened up their design approaches. Others have become more global, using the UK as a springboard to the rest of the world.  Many have diversified; a few have specialised.

Written by: Lorraine Dale King, AIA

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