John Pardey Architects

John Pardey Architects was established in 1983 and has built a strong reputation for design excellence and quality, which has resulted in over 30 awards including national RIBA awards, along with widespread publication in magazines and books here and abroad.

Perhaps best known for our private houses, we have grown to enjoy working on a diverse range of building types that include mixed use schemes, educational, retail and large scale residential projects. While we enjoy working across all types of projects, we have developed an expertise in modernist 1950’s and 60’s buildings that has seen us work on several listed modern buildings across the UK. But whatever the project, our specialism is high quality architecture delivered within budget. Our approach to all projects, regardless of scale or budget, is to firstly understand the vision and objectives of the client and then work very hard to explore options to find a solution that exceeds expectations yet remains practical, achievable and lasting. We always endeavour to use natural materials to make buildings that work and wear well, to provide a richness and resonance that endures.

We see our work as humanistic – modern, but tempered by a love of place, traditions and natural materials – we aim for timelessness in our buildings. We always seek an elegant simplicity yet richness, clarity yet depth, elegance yet robustness. Our work fuses many influences, from the English Arts + Crafts, to Scandinavian Modernism and the Californian Case Study House programme of the 1950’s – but ultimately, we like to think our work has a unique imprint that is entirely our own. We do not labour over theory for its own sake, but always underpin our work with a clear diagram and concept, that distils the programme and guides design development so that detail becomes just as important as the whole.

We always design buildings to achieve integrated low energy solutions by paying great attention to the fundamentals first – location, orientation, daylight, natural shading, an efficient thermal envelope – combined with the elements of construction working together to create comfortable and enjoyable environments. We like to work alongside nature rather than trying to simply contain and modify it. We work hard to make buildings that are responsible and take a long-term view of minimising energy use and carbon emissions. This approach involves appraising the prevailing environmental conditions and the client's requirements at a very early stage to incorporate thoughtful environmental control and resilience as an integral part of a design.

In 2009, John Pardey was selected to join the National design review panel of The Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE).

John is the author of two books: ‘Utzon: Two houses on Majorca’, published by Editions Bløndal in 2005 and ‘Louisiana and Beyond – The work of Vilhelm Wohlert’, also by Editions Bløndal in 2007. He is currently working on a new book on the Tietgen Pavilion in Copenhagen by Lundgaard and Tranberg Architects.