We first met at the University of Liverpool in 1985, as students at the prestigious Liverpool school of Architecture, which was founded in 1894. This is where we started our journey; studying on a course known for its strong emphasis on thorough and imaginative design, rigorous attention to detail, and the teaching of the tectonics of fine architecture; giving us a wonderfully rounded background for the work we were to apply ourselves to, once in practice.
Having completed our training, we worked at architects’ offices in London, Manchester, Leeds and Liverpool, occasionally tutoring architectural students at Manchester and Liverpool Universities along the way. In 1996, we returned to Robert’s birthplace, the beautiful Island of Jersey; where we worked at respected local practices, with the aim of establishing ourselves on the Island before starting our own office; something that we carefully planned to do for some time.
We founded Godel Architects in 2000, initially working out of a redundant building on Robert’s father’s farm in St Mary. Since then, our practice has gone from strength to strength, and has grown to fifteen members of staff, requiring us to move to a larger building across the yard; a farm shed that we converted into what is now our office. It provides us with a lovely working environment with spectacular views over the rural landscape.
Our office is organised as an open plan design studio, encouraging an open dialogue between us all, to facilitate the cross-pollination of ideas and knowledge – an ethos born in the spirit of our training at The Liverpool School of Architecture, all those years ago. We believe that this interactive studio-working environment nurtures creativity and enthusiasm, and we welcome clients and collaborators joining the process. We have been lucky to be able to build a hand-picked, highly talented and enthusiastic team, who share our passion and ethos within our close-knit family environment.
We, as a practice, passionately believe in our quest to make every project, large or small, as beautiful and purposeful as it can possibly be. We work diligently to provide a tailor-made service, not only in our architecture, but by the care and attention we provide to all our projects and clients. Over the years, we have been privileged to work on highly acclaimed, award-winning buildings of which we are very proud, and we always give the same attention to all projects, regardless of size and type. We work hard to uncover unseen opportunities and to create the very best of architecture, on every site.
Our practice continues to grow and is highly ambitious, and we are excited about the opportunities that are yet to come.