Tom Emerson and Stephanie Macdonald RA Elect

6a architects was founded by Stephanie Macdonald and Tom Emerson in 2001. Threading contemporary uses and spaces through London’s historic and landscape settings in early projects Raven Row and the South London Gallery, both models of adaptive reuse attracting RIBA National Awards, the practice has designed many cultural projects internationally. Forested courtyards structure the new residential court at Churchill College Cambridge and a photography studio for Juergen Teller, nominated for the Stirling prize in 2017. More recently, 6a’s expansion of MK Gallery reinterpreted the utopian history of Milton Keynes into an instant landmark, named by The Observer in 2019 as the Best Building of the Year. A holistic collaboration with artist Caragh Thuring on ‘Great Things Lie Ahead’ 2020, Holborn House embedded a public artwork into an extended community building. 6a’s work includes artists’ studios, art galleries, fashion flagship stores, exhibitions, post-industrial re-use and housing internationally. 6a recently completed a new housing development on the Hamburg waterfront, the new not for profit, Centre for Art Research and Alliances (CARA) in New York and is currently leading the design to reimagine Tate Liverpool.

The studio’s projects are firmly rooted in place – weaving materials, landscape, climate, social histories and construction traditions into contemporary culture. 6a is renowned for its integration of landscape into complex building projects. Its innovative use of material focuses on creating beautiful and long term, environmentally and socially sustainable places. 6a has longstanding collaborations with artists, landscape architects, horticulturalists, and engineers, embedding research into a holistic design process. Emerson is professor of architecture and dean at the Department of Architecture, ETH Zurich, where he leads a research and design studio, exploring the relationship between making and landscape. In 2021 Macdonald and Emerson were awarded OBE’s for their services to architecture and education.