INSIGHTS 13
The fi rm places strong emphasis on clear, consistent client communication, embracing the challenges. “We have worked through some genuinely diffi cult moments very collaboratively with clients.” They say this clarity is also applied to the practice leaders’ role, to help get the most out of the team: “Defi ning the leadership roles is part of a process that establishes identities that speak to our values, allowing us to effectively lead the talented people on our team at scale and pace.”
As a result the trust it has built with clients (seen as the fi rm’s biggest achievement) has enabled the securing of prominent schemes and “fostered a culture where teams, past and present, are supported to grow and develop.”
The practice believes that as architecture becomes more “data-rich and interconnected,” it is well set up to benefi t, being “grounded in second-order cybernetics and systems thinking, with an emphasis on feedback loops and the observer’s role within the system.” As well as monitoring KPIs, they are using AI to interpret complex
data, and “support the calculations that inform sustainable design.” And, by embedding “meaningful feedback” into the design process, they aim to make their Effi cient Architecture concept measurable.
Projects One of WGP’s most striking projects, The Folly, was a unique commission for a modern folly, a ‘consciously sculptural’ sustainable building discreetly set within the gardens of an Arts and Crafts country house. “Part lookout, part entertaining space, and part retreat, and is unashamedly free of typical building constraints, celebrating its beautiful surroundings.”
The modular primary structure and layered approach to internal and external cladding use recycled and recyclable timber and
aluminium, allowing components to be replaced to extend the building’s design life. The free-spanning internal space provides fl exibility of use, while prefabricated transportable leaves and screw piles can be relocated and repurposed elsewhere. The logarithmic spiral form minimises surface area and reduces heat loss. The building’s height, combined with rainscreen cladding, was planned to facilitate effective ventilation. In-house solar gain simulations informed the form, orientation, and location of glazing, supporting mitigation measures such as overhanging eaves to reduce overheating, thermal mass from rafts and highly insulated cassettes to retain solar gain, and partial burial of the structure to regulate temperatures. Operationally, the building relies on an all-electric solution, with a heat pump served by geothermal piles, below-ground plant with minimal visual or acoustic impact, and underfl oor water- fed pipework. Beyond embodied carbon, operational carbon and therefore whole life carbon were important drivers for the design. Another prominent project for WGP is the Theatre Square & NW2 Participation Building. Central Ipswich offered an unusual challenge: a 1960s public space above a hidden spiral car park, featuring a disused fountain bowl, with a developer willing to fund transformation provided parking was retained below. The goals were an expanded New Wolsey Theatre and a gateway statement for the local authority, to support wider regeneration. The main constraint was the car park below. WGP worked with the existing corkscrew concrete structure rather than against it, aligning the new building’s form with the structural grid below. No new foundations were required, and the 282 m2
timber
structure sits on hidden beams resting on the original surface. “Material effi ciency guided fabrication,” say the practice; the
THE FOLLY
The practice responded to the challenge of designing a “consciously sculptural” building discreetly set within the gardens of an Arts and Crafts house in Kent © Anthony Coleman
ADF MARCH 2026
WWW.ARCHITECTSDATAFILE.CO.UK
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60
