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INSIGHTS
PRACTICE PROFILE Pippa Nissen & Jim Richards Nissen Richards Studio
Since establishing their ‘wife and husband’-led practice in 2010, Pippa Nissen and Jim Richards have cemented a reputation for translating narrative into spatial experience. Kim Neville spoke to them about their creativity, collaboration and continual learning.
N
issen Richards Studio was founded in 2010 by Pippa Nissen, joined soon after by her husband, Jim Richards. The goal was to work on projects they genuinely cared about – and were passionate about. Both founders brought extensive experience from having run other architectural practices. As Nissen explains: “Both of us had been directors of other practices before, so we had experience of running companies. I took the plunge fi rst and Jim followed quickly after when I asked him politely to join me (he said yes immediately!).” The duo brought complementary interests to the new practice.
Nissen’s background was rooted in architecture and theatre design, while Jim was keen to work across a diverse range of projects. Refl ecting on his ambitions for the studio, he states: “I wanted to work on a wide mix of projects at different scales of size and complexity, but ones that would also push us both intellectually and technically.” Nissen’s cultural and creative interests were shaped through her education, having studied architecture at Cambridge before
completing a postgraduate Master’s degree in Theatre Design at the Slade School of Fine Art. This combination of architectural and theatrical training would later infl uence the studio’s strategy to pursue cultural and public projects. When the practice was fi rst established, the studio consisted of just six people. Since then, it has grown organically in response to the opportunities it has been presented with. Refl ecting on this, Nissen notes: “At fi rst, we wanted to create something small and bespoke, but the opportunities we were given drove us to expand. I think now we feel we are at a size that feels really good – just under 30 people.” Currently, the studio is in a happy position where they can
say ‘no’ if projects don’t align with their ethos, or the workload prevents it. Nissen says: “It does mean that we love all the projects we do take on though, which is a good place to be!”
Practice culture & ethos Richards pinpoints the practice’s key design objective as “honesty
BURYING THE COMPETITION
A new ‘visitor experience’ at the Sutton Hoo Anglo-Saxon burial ground combined both exhibition and visitor needs carefully, picking up an RIBA award © Gareth Gardner
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