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INSIGHTS


39


Bilska de Beaupuy PRACTICE PROFILE


James Parker looks at a young practice which combines architecture with nutritional expertise to produce an intense focus on holistic benefits to clients.


“long time friends,” architect Monika Bilska (pictured above right) and Arabella de Beaupuy, a nutritionist (above left). Monika worked for eight years at Zaha Hadid Architects as a designer and team leader on projects at a variety of scales, from private villas to large, multi-functional buildings. Arabella uses her training in complementary medicine to inform design by “integrating its holistic approach within her research of building materials and in how design affects people and the environment.”


B Combined approach


The two came together to create an architecture and interior design practice which would “push the boundaries of their creativity, but also have fun along the way,” says de Beaupuy. The “architecture first and interior design second” firm, which has its office in London, fuses the duo’s knowledge of not only design, but also material science and holistic health to create a new proposition. Taking a leap, with no projects when they founded the firm, they secured their first client within two months of setting up. Bilska comments: “Thanks to our different backgrounds, we combine both of our technical and building site experience and evidence-based knowledge with abstract and conceptual thinking, which we find very valuable and complementary.” Perhaps the most important factor in their partnership is that “they have always shared sensitivities towards life, nature and aesthetics,” she adds. The firm has an unusually esoteric approach, its stated goal – and USP – being “to design spaces which connect people to themselves and to the universe.” Bilska de Beaupuy’s colourful website speaks of “nourishing cultural, physiological, mental, emotional and spiritual needs.” What these messages and unusual mix of specialisms mean in practice however is beginning to be shown in their work.


The duo have brought their holistic, nature-oriented design approach to mainly concept designs but also a couple of completed schemes in the high-end residential and leisure sectors, and they’re also branching out into product design. Allied to a “focus on beauty,” emphasis is put on good quality, natural materials, and using evidence ranging from peer reviewed scientific literature to sustainability methodologies such as ‘Cradle to Cradle.’


ADF FEBRUARY 2019 © Bilska de Beaupuy


The two came together to create an architecture and interior design practice which would “push the boundaries of their creativity, but also have fun along the way,” says de Beaupuy


Bilska sums up their ethos: “It may start as quite conceptual, which allows artistic freedom, but we also provide a lot of practical and specific material to support the design.” The firm is also keen to bring in cultural references, as was demonstrated in a project to create a bird observation tower at a wildlife reserve in Latvia. This being a country with “strong cultural roots within its folklore,” says Bilka – the tower is inspired by folklore deity Auseklis, “a symbol of hope.”


She explains how this aligned with research-based design pragmatism: “Auseklis is star-shaped, and it so happens that through our research with an ornithology professor, we discovered this shape of platform increased the viewing perimeter for birdwatching.” Other projects by the firm include timber concepts for an adaptable wooden post cabin in a French forest (pictured above), and a visitor centre in Sevenoaks, plus a highly flexible “folding house” in the US.


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ilska de Beaupuy is a coming together of two like minds, but of different yet complementary specialisms. This young practice, founded in 2015, combines the talents of two


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