The LA Way Part 2: Design with Boldness
How we embrace ambitious ideas to design spaces that inspire
Step two of The LA Way embodies one of the defining principles of True Prime®: imagining boldly. We believe exceptional architecture demands not only creativity and ambition, but also the experience, discipline and technical expertise to bring the most ambitious ideas to life.
Designing with Boldness means looking beyond the obvious, exploring possibilities and challenging assumptions to discover the full potential of every project. Building on the foundations established in the first step of The LA Way, Define with Rigour, we combine a thorough understanding of the building and our clients’ aspirations with the freedom and confidence to think creatively.
Working closely with our clients, we explore and develop their brief, translating their ambitions into an inspiring architectural vision of what their home could become.
Engineering the extraordinary
Working at the very highest end of residential architecture gives us the opportunity to realise some truly extraordinary ambitions. Our clients often come to us with highly individual ideas that challenge convention and demand imaginative thinking, technical ingenuity and meticulous coordination. We relish the opportunity to turn these ambitions into reality.
Our projects have included a central London penthouse with its own private ice rink and a seventh-floor apartment featuring a Formula 1 car as its centrepiece (cr craned in, naturally). We have also incorporated a snow room into a major residential refurbishment and installed an enormous aquarium within a substantial Mayfair duplex.
Bold ideas, brought to life
The success of any ambitious idea depends on how seamlessly it can be integrated into everyday life, enhancing our clients’ experience of their homes without compromising comfort or practicality. For the private ice rink, for example, we carefully considered the potential acoustic impact on neighbouring apartments and incorporated sophisticated measures to minimise noise transmission.
We also designed the rink to safely contain meltwater in the event of a plant failure, incorporating a fully tanked floor, multiple layers of waterproofing and sealed perimeter kerbs. For the snow room, we even sourced edible snow, allowing the client’s young children to enjoy the experience safely.
Ultimately, Designing with Boldness means combining imagination and creativity with a clear understanding of technical feasibility, programme and budget. It is this balance that allows us to turn extraordinary ideas into beautifully resolved, practical and deliverable designs.
Finding inspiring solutions
At LA London, Designing with Boldness isn’t about performative luxury or making a statement for its own sake. Often, it means finding an imaginative solution to a complex challenge, transforming constraints into opportunities.
Camp End Manor’s floating staircase
At Camp End Manor on St George’s Hill, we collaborated with the Stonemasonry Company and Webb Yates Engineers to create a pioneering self-supporting helical staircase constructed entirely from solid stone. The first of its kind, its innovative engineering uses a hydraulically tensioned steel cable threaded through the staircase’s spine to prevent twisting, while each stone tread transfers its load directly to the one below.
The result is an elegant and cost-effective solution that also creates a striking architectural centrepiece, allowing natural light from a circular rooflight to penetrate deep into the house.
On the Crown Estate in Oxshott, our client wanted a full-length 25-metre swimming pool and a bowling alley, but the available space was 1.5 metres too short. Rather than compromise the brief, we reimagined the layout, positioning the pool parallel to the rear of the house at basement level and excavating beneath the garden to accommodate the pool, bowling alley and associated plant.
By reinstating the garden above, we were able to realise our client’s ambitions while minimising structural intervention and respecting the private estate’s landscaping restrictions.
The 25 metre swimming pool at our project on the Crown Estate in Oxshott
Designing with place in mind
Designing with Boldness also means responding imaginatively to a site’s unique character and setting. For a project located in a forest setting, we designed a delightful retreat that follows the natural contours of the land, allowing the building to sit comfortably within its surroundings. Extensive glazing frames views of the river and the surrounding silver birches and Corsican pines, creating a strong connection between the architecture and the landscape.
A particularly innovative feature is the multi-layered, triple-glazed roof, with each panel set at a subtly different angle to its neighbour, capturing and reflecting daylight as conditions change throughout the day. This carefully considered design maximises natural light within the house, despite the dense woodland surrounding it, while creating an ever-changing interplay of light and shadow.
“It’s not about looking for the simplest or the quickest solution to a problem. It’s about finding the best solution, and that can take time.”
The value of experience
As architects, our role is to balance creative ambition with the expertise and precision needed to bring exceptional ideas to life. With 45 years of experience in prime residential architecture, we understand that even the boldest vision must be underpinned by rigorous research, careful planning and meticulous attention to detail.
The foundations established in the first step of The LA Way, Define with Rigour, give us the confidence to explore possibilities, challenge conventions and push creative boundaries, knowing that our ideas are grounded in a thorough understanding of both the building and our clients’ aspirations.
For us, Designing with Boldness means having not only the imagination to conceive something extraordinary, but also the knowledge, experience and determination to make it a reality.
In the next article, we will explore the third stage of The LA Way: Develop with Precision.
