Having spent several years as Associate, Project Director and Design Director at YRM Architects, in 1994, we (Sevil Peach Gence FSCD and Gary Turnbull RIBA) left their jobs to set up their own design and architectural studio – SevilPeach.
‘Hold on a minute’, you might be thinking – ‘They had good jobs. They were going places. Why did they leave?’
Well, after much discussion and many nights of talking into the wee hours, we both decided that neither of us wanted to get to the point where we were forced to relinquish the personal, hands-on approach to the way we worked.
We wanted to run a practice that was design driven, not management driven. To stay small whilst thinking big, so that our day-to-day jobs and everything we produced for our clients remained a pleasurable experience for all. We’ve spent the last 17 years building our practice and expanding our team to do just that.
“The best way to describe the experience that SevilPeach create in an office is to say that it is very much like coming home after a long trip, stepping through the front door of your home and knowing that you are where you most want to be – home!”Kevin Sauer, Microsoft
Having built our company slowly and thoughtfully, our small, handpicked team is made up of people from different backgrounds who are passionate about design and who share our philosophy and work ethic.
Sitting together in our light, airy open plan studio, we all work side by side, preparing and eating lunch together, having Turkish picnics on birthdays and getting pizza grease on the layout drawings on Fridays.
Working in this environment allows us to combine our wealth and breadth of knowledge, experience and expertise, so that we’re able to draw together the dual disciplines of architecture and interiors to work seamlessly together.
“To realise a good office environment you need five players: a good architect, a psychologist, a workflow specialist, a stylist and a good client. If the client is good, Sevil and her team can deliver the rest of what is needed and design the finest office environments I have seen so far. She is the only architect I know who takes pleasure in the office seriously.”Rolf Fehlbaum, Vitra Chairman
From offering a full design service to bespoke advice, our team have worked on a wide variety of projects both in the UK and internationally, from architecture, interior design and space planning to strategic design advice and concept development. Since we specialise in workplace design, whether our client happens to be a blue chip multinational company or business start-up, we want to make the workplace feel human.
When it comes to any project we work on, the process is just as important as the final outcome; it’s not just about delivering the shiny new office or fancy new modular ergonomic desk system. We really invest in getting inside the heads, tea urns and messy shove-it-all-in-paperclip-drawers of our clients in order to thoroughly understand their needs and what kind of environment would enable them to work better.
We talk to everyone from the managing director to the chap who turns the lights out at night. By putting people at the centre of our process and asking them what they need and want from the space they spend most of their week in, we take into account the company, the culture and the building, and design unique and usable solutions that work for people.
“A good looking office has no meaning if it cannot physically and emotionally support the people who inhabit it. A good office has to interact and support a vast group of workers, each of whom is effectively a client in their own right.”Sevil Peach
Our open-minded enthusiasm
Big or small, medium-sized or tiny, and regardless of a limitless or shoestring budget, we approach every new project with an open and questioning mind. By treating each new piece of work as a clean slate, we are able to come at it with the same amount of enthusiasm, excitement and vigour as the last project we worked on (albeit with a few extra pairs of fresh, inquisitive eyes).
Getting out as much as we put in
It's a learning process. On every project we work on, we start out not really knowing how to solve it until we are engaged in it. And since we always find out something new or a better way of doing something, we really do get out as much as we put in. Especially when the employees of our clients actually want to go to work on a Monday morning.
Being locksmiths to a happy
work place
By unlocking the potential of the people, the company, the building and the space, we are champions of the human aspect of design.
Making a new space feel as if
it's always been there
From Day 1, we want people to walk into their new office and feel at home, as if they've always been there. Work is not about flimsy partitions, bad lighting, poky spaces and narrow corridors. It's a place to encourage, develop and utilise all the energy and talent of the people who work there.
Getting to the heart of it all
By finding the heart of the company, the space, the building, the culture and the individuals who work there, we create work environments that encourage people to take pride and pleasure in being with their colleagues as a part of a community. In other words, making work, work.
“When everything is connected to everything else, everything matters. Location, building, the room, furniture, the view, the people – all are important for the overall experience.”Sevil Peach