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TORCH Podcast

In this first episode from TORCH at Oxford University, the neuroscientist Professor Russell Foster and Ian Ritchie discuss the relationship between light, sleep, and the built environment.

Celebrating 20 years of TR2

The marvel of TR2 is that during its c20 years of occupancy, despite periods of highly intense use across a variety of industrial, creative and educational functions, there has not been a single request to change the design or retrospectively reconfigure any aspect of the building.
Adrian Vinken, CBE, former CEO of Plymouth Theatre Royal

How we Celebrate the Coronation

Commissioned by the Royal Fine Art Commission Trust to mark the Coronation of His Majesty the King, How we Celebrate the Coronation is a compendium of current thinking on design and urban space.

Light Nature Architecture

A guide to holistic lighting design by Ulrike Brandi has been published by Birkhauser.
The Preface is by Ian Ritchie.

Landscape Award

Arte Sella was commended for its inspirational enhancement of an Alpine valley through artistic interventions.

SHARE Pristina 2023

Ian Ritchie is great speaker at SHARE Pristina 2023 International Architecture & Technology Innovation Forum on March 10th.

Royal Academy of Music

‘The spaces are stunningly beautiful and inspiring. They will raise the bar and challenge the students and staff in every possible form of music to reach higher and search further.’
Jonathan Freeman-Attwood, Principal, Royal Academy of Music

2020 The PLAN Awards (Italy) – Education (Completed Projects): Honourable Mention
Winner of 8 national and international awards in 2019
Winner of 14 national and international awards in 2018

Mercer Walk

The scheme designed by Ian Ritchie Architects works with the historic context and architectural grain of this formerly neglected part of Covent Garden to create a vibrant, elegant new area of public space.
A contemporary central piazza forms the focal point of the development, which contains residential apartments, shops and restaurants.

2018 RICS Awards (London) – Finalist
2017 Constructing Excellence Awards – Winner
2017 Building Magazine Awards – Finalist
2017 WAF Awards – Finalist

 

 

 

Sainsbury Wellcome Centre

The Sainsbury Wellcome Centre for Neural Circuits and Behaviour at UCL is one of the first buildings ever designed incorporating latest neuroscientific knowledge into its fabric from inception, and in open collaboration with its prospective neuroscientist users.
“This is a shockingly good building to work in.” Adam Kampff, PI

2020 PIDA Innovation Prize – Winner 
2018 German Design Award – Winner
2017 RICS Project of the Year Award (London) – Winner
2017 RICS Design through Innovation Award (London) – Winner
2017 Galvanising Awards Duplex Award – Winner
2016 BCI Award Major Building Project of the Year (over £50m) – Winner

RSC The Other Place

The RIBA national award-winning, now iconic Courtyard Theatre designed by Ian Ritchie Architects has been transformed into a vibrant, naturally lit collection of dramatic theatre performance spaces over five floors within the original, naturally weathered folded Corten steel sheet envelope.
“The Other Place is a fabulous achievement.” Erica Whyman, RSC Deputy Artistic Director

2018 Civic Trust Awards – Finalist
2017 WAF Awards – Finalist

The Spire - An Túr Solais

The Spire Monument in Dublin’s centre was inspired by and reflects the ever-changing light and composition of the Irish skies. The elegant and remarkably slender form continues the tradition of standing stones and obelisks and was designed to embody an optimistic and far reaching spirit of contemporary Ireland.

Plymouth Theatre Royal TR2

All theatre production activities in Plymouth Theatre Royal’s TR2 are centralised and integrated with educational and rehearsal spaces. The design’s most striking elements are rehearsal pods, clad in a unique woven phosphor-bronze cloth, soft to eye and hand, ‘randomly’ placed on the rock riverbank.

Crystal Palace Concert Platform

Ian Ritchie Architects’ design for a permanent Concert Platform in Corten steel in London’s Crystal Palace Park is sculptural without being sculpture, bold yet reinforcing the surrounding rich and beautiful Paxton landscape. Nevertheless, its simplicity belies the complex acoustic performance required of it.

Oxford Science Park

This 3,000m2 research office building was designed for the Prudential and Magdalen College JV. The building ‘floats’ above undercroft parking, the entrance is sheltered and east and west facing windows are shaded by horizontal veils of stainless steel mesh. The design provides adaptable accommodation for single or multiple occupancy, and the environmental controls permit natural ventilation through to full air conditioning.

Stockley Park Building B8

Ian Ritchie Architects were commissioned by Stanhope to design, detail, supervise and deliver a multi-tenancy research-office building of 9,000m2 within 52 weeks to a fixed budget at the renowned Stockley Park. We developed the first double glazed Planar with Pilkington for the external walls. The finished building gave 92% net rental area and received several awards.

 

Leipzig Neue Messe Glass Hall

Ian Ritchie Architects led the design and realisation of the world’s largest glass hall for the new Leipzig International Exhibition Centre in collaboration with gmp. Combining simplicity of concept and construction with elegance and economy, it appears as a filigree shell within the site’s central landscape.

Reina Sofia Museum of Modern Art

Ian Ritchie Architects designed the three iconic 35m high glass circulation towers giving the new Reina Sofia Museum of Modern Art in Madrid its architectural image. It was the world’s first glass installation which transferred wind load through the corner glass panels.

The Louvre Sculpture Courts, Paris

Ian Ritchie Architects helped conceive and develop the structure and glazing designs of the 6,000m2 roofs covering the three internal courtyards of the Louvre’s Richelieu wing, creating the Museum’s new Sculpture Courts proposed by I. M. Pei & Michel Macary.

About us

ritchie*studio – formerly Ian Ritchie Architects – is a successful and globally respected architectural practice which has won more than 70 competitions in Europe and the UK and received over 100 major national and international awards for architecture and innovation.

This reflects a history of 40 years commitment to research, architecture, industrial and urban design, and to the talent within the practice.

ritchie*studio remains a leader in glass architecture, material-technical innovation and intelligent environmental and sustainable design.

Being: An Architect

In this book extract Ian Ritchie RA reveals the deeper meaning of his life as an architect

A career in architecture engages with so many disciplines and aspects of life it is impossible not to enjoy it. The cyclical phenomena of nature – day following night following day, the life-regenerating cycle of the seasons – provide evidence for the Taoist paradigm. Successes and failures in architecture are part of the duality of being alive – happy and sad, good and bad, life and death. I am reminded that no amount of darkness can extinguish a candle’s flame. This is why, for me, optimism always prevails.