Join us to explore how architecture can adapt to and engage with its surroundings, inspiring new ways to think about the relationship between design and place.
We’ll delve deeper into the work of Knox Bhavan, Carmody Groarke and Tonkin Liu, as they discuss their responses to challenging landscapes, as seen in our exhibition, Difficult Sites: Architecture Against the Odds.
They’ll highlight the innovative design approaches, creative problem-solving, and collaborative strategies that helped shape these projects, from addressing site-specific challenges to forging strong partnerships with clients to bring their visions to fruition.
Following their presentations, the panel will be joined by RIBA Journal Editor Eleanor Young for a group discussion and audience Q&A.
Difficult Sites: Architecture Against the Odds is the latest exhibition in the Architecture Gallery at RIBA which explores remarkable feats of architectural achievement in the face of tricky terrain, awkward urban plots, challenging remodels, and more.
The Panel
Mike Tonkin, Director at Tonkin Liu
Mike is an Architect, Landscape Architect, and teacher. He co-founded Tonkin Liu with Anna Liu in 2002. Tonkin Liu is informed by a nature-focused design process and an ambition to reconnect people to nature. Extensive international travel has informed lessons from nature and first-hand knowledge of vernacular architecture.
Over the last twenty years, Mike has taught and lectured at the AA, the Bartlett School of Architecture, the University of Cambridge, the University of Bath, the RCA and the University of Westminster. His PhD, The Nature of Place, undertaken with the Engineering Department at the University of Bath, demonstrates how a nature-focused storytelling approach can bring innovation to architecture.
Sasha Bhavan, Director at Knox Bhavan
Sasha Bhavan is a founding partner of Knox Bhavan Architects, practising for over 30 years. She is responsible for many beautiful and award-winning projects. These projects range in size and character, including new cafes and hub buildings in parks, works to precious Listed Buildings and a number of acclaimed new houses.
She is particularly interested in looking at buildings in their context/landscape, making buildings with clarity of form and detailing, simple and contemporary. She believes in the power of the team; client, professional and builder working together. She has established long-standing successful professional relationships and collaborations with other design professionals, including landscape architects, engineers and contractors.
Rowan Seaford, Associate Director at Carmody Groarke
Rowan joined Carmody Groarke in 2012 with a wealth of experience in mixed-use regeneration projects and public buildings. With over 20 years of experience in practice, she is adept at delivering projects from inception to completion and has played a key role in some of the practice’s award-winning projects including the Stirling Prize shortlisted Windermere Jetty Museum. She enjoys working closely with clients and design teams to push the boundaries of a design idea to achieve elegant and enduring design solutions.
Rowan has a keen eye for detail and relishes the challenge of working within sensitive heritage settings to unlock the full potential of a site or a building.
