Moxon has taken building your own office to the next level

Moxon Architects is the thoroughly deserving winner of this year’s RIAS Doolan Best Building in Scotland award. In what I believe may be a first for any major architectural prize, the practice has won on the back of an office project that it has designed for itself.

Getting a glimpse of a firm’s office is always interesting. Intentionally or not, it inevitably reveals something about the soul of a practice. Whether it’s corporate sterility, comfortable affluence or down at heal bohemian charm, these are places that tell a story about how these firms see themselves, and how they want to be perceived by their clients and peers.

When I was given a tour of Squire and Partners’ stunning offices in Brixton a few years ago, I was struck by the attention to detail and no-expense-spared approach to materials and detailing. The place looks and feels like an elegant private members’ club.

Younger firms almost always find themselves in more low-key surroundings. Dowen Farmer occupies a unit in the buzzing Peckham Levels, a former multi-storey car park. The building lacks any wayfinding signage, which means visitors have to ask directions from anyone they encounter.

By the time I reached Dowen Farmer’s office, I had already met half the occupants of the building. And my journey had become imbued with the sense of community and friendliness that drew the practice to this location in the first place.

Having had to move units to accommodate their expansion, the growing practice is already bursting at the seams. Replete with office dogs, the cozy/intense atmosphere speaks of their passion for, and love of what they do.

After years of renting, many architects aspire to build their own office space. It is usually a smart move if you can afford it. It no doubt helped that Squire & Partners owned its building in Brixton, making the heavy expenditure as much a canny financial investment as an advert for the practice.

In recent decades we have seen a practice like Allies and Morrison not only develop its own impressive campus in Southwark, but also contribute to the wider regeneration of the surrounding area. This idea of using your presence to stimulate investment and activity speaks to the architect’s role as both entrepreneur and activist.

Feilden Fowles’ self-initiated and self-funded office in Lambeth forms part of a wider community initiative, that includes a city farm. Their office building is designed to be fully demountable, and there are-long term plans to move it to a new site when the practice’s current lease ends. It has helped to create an idyllic haven in the city that also speaks volumes about its ideals and values.

In Spitalfields, Chris Dyson Architects’ office doubles as a community meeting space. Although Dyson is genuinely immersed in the life and spirit of the local neighbourhood, it does not do his business any harm. Warm relationships with other local businesses can lead to commissions and more work. A sense of rootedness, embodied in the way he lives his own life locally, goes to the heart of his practice’s ethos.

Moxon’s office space combines many of the community and sustainability aspects of these other projects, but perhaps exceeds them all in terms of its other-worldly beauty and the tranquillity of its setting. The practice seems to have summoned up the ethereal qualities of a Japanese minka in the midst of the Cairngorms.

In this case practice founder Ben Addy has brought the Scottish office of his previously London-based practice close to a landscape that he knows well and loves – the eastern Highlands. His vision for the site includes landscape renewal and rewilding.

I haven’t had the opportunity to visit yet, but I hope to do so soon. What is clear from the images of this project is that Moxon is a practice that is successfully exploring that dream shared by many architects, where workplace, values and life blend seamlessly.