Assemble RA

Assemble is a multi-disciplinary collective working across architecture, design and art. Founded in 2010 to undertake a single self-built project, Assemble has since delivered a diverse and award-winning body of work, while retaining a democratic and cooperative working method that enables built, social and research-based work at a variety of scales, both making things and making things happen.

The collective is interested in a way of working that fosters sociality for a slower, more collaborative design process to take place. This is enabled by Sugarhouse Studios, a workshop run by the collective that is also home to over 50 other craftspeople.

In 2015 Assemble was the first collective to be awarded the Turner Prize for their network of neighbourhood projects created in collaboration with the residents of Granby, Liverpool, including the refurbishment of 10 terraced houses and the establishment of the community orientated business, Granby Workshop, a manufacturer of architectural ceramics. In 2017 they opened Granby Winter Garden, a community centre and greenhouse.

Assemble’s largest completed project to date, Goldsmiths Centre for Contemporary Art, New Cross is a gallery inserted within a Grade II listed bathhouse within a university campus, which provides a range of new public functions. Assemble were able to adapt a traditional form of procurement by working with the main contractor to develop bespoke handmade elements such as the façade and furniture throughout, much of which was made at Sugarhouse Studios.

Assemble is currently working with BC Architects and Materials to design a new workspace for the Luma Atelier in the south of France. Luma Atelier is a think tank, production workshop and learning network, where Assemble is co-developing new ways of caring for the built environment by prototyping construction techniques in earth, stone and waste materials, continuing the collective’s materials led practice.