Introduction
Rick Mather leads an international architectural, masterplanning and urban design practice. Completed work spans both new build and renovation with a special interest in the cultural and education sectors. This is combined with a recognised and innovative expertise in the intelligent re-interpretation of existing, often listed structures and in sustainable low energy building.
Current projects include a new Skills Centre in Barking, several sustainable residential projects in London, an extension to the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith, a £420 million residential quarter in Central Milton Keynes and two competition winning projects in Oxford, a new library and archive building for The Queen's College and a new quad for Keble College.
Recently completed projects include the $160 million extension of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond VA, the £61 million expansion and renovation of the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, a £24 million new Art and Design Academy for Liverpool John Moores University, the Towner Art Gallery in Eastbourne, the first phase of the Southbank Centre masterplan, London, two new boarding houses for Stowe School and a new music auditorium for Corpus Christi College.
Award winning projects include the renovation and extension of the Dulwich Picture Gallery, the Wallace Collection, the National Maritime Museum in London, the ARCO and Sloane Robinson Buildings at Keble College, Oxford, the Constable Terrace at the University of East Anglia, The Times Newspaper headquarters in London's Docklands, private residences in Hampstead and the Zen restaurants in London, Montreal and Hong Kong.
Rick Mather has recently completed an eight year tenure as a Trustee of the Victoria and Albert Museum, and is also a former trustee of the Theatre Museum and the British Architectural Library Trust. He has served on the Councils of the Architectural Association and the Royal Institute of British Architects. Other professional activities have included service as an RIBA external examiner to several schools of architecture, and teaching assignments at the Architectural Association, the Bartlett University College London, the Harvard Graduate School of Design and the Thomas Jefferson Professorship at the University of Virginia.
Rick Mather Architects are an RIBA Chartered Practice
Registration number 498483
Rick Mather USA Inc is based in New York City for all US work.
How We Work
The practice attracts a highly motivated team of architects and urban designers who work in a studio environment which means they share and develop ideas to ensure that each project achieves the full potential of the client's brief and the site. We use sketches, physical models and computer modelling to quickly test and develop ideas. Clear expression is critical for good collaboration, and developing an efficient and buildable design that inspires the client, stakeholders and the public.
We have established strong collaborative relationships with experts throughout the industry, allowing us to develop innovative structural and environmental strategies that can deliver the best possible solutions. The pioneering all-glass extension and glass staircases originally developed from residential projects in the 1990s have now grown to the innovations in structural glazing visible within the Virginia Museum. Recently The Towner Gallery and Liverpool Design Academy have exploited new advances in concrete spans and grades.
We are successfully completed the first phase to the ongoing Southbank Centre masterplan to widespread acclaim, incorporating the largest ever recorded public consultation exercise. Our work in a number of Oxford University Colleges, Dulwich, Greenwich and Stowe have demonstrated our expertise at developing and delivering buildings in the most sensitive sites.
We regularly work with experts in the public forum and consistently seek to shape our design process to dovetail with public and stakeholder participation, using ideas as the primary method for engagement and development.
The practice is committed to social-responsibility and is an equal-opportunities employer.
We operate quality assurance and sustainability policies in accordance with ISO 9001 and ISO14001.