For over 40 years now, Yiangou Architects have been designing and building beautiful things throughout the UK, often in very special settings. We have a particular expertise in obtaining planning consents within all types of designated contexts, from urban conservation areas or Green Belt to within Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty or National Parks. We often work with listed buildings, including nationally important Grade 1 structures, or within heritage assets that might be set in listed parkland or grounds.
Our clients range from private individuals to museums, colleges at Oxford and advisory roles at the Duchy of Cornwall, the Crown Estate, and the National Trust. We are, however, as pleased to take on a small jewel of a house as we are a large and impressive new mansion.
Yiangou are also experienced in the successful design and build of individual Paragraph 84 (E) houses, and in the master planning of high-quality developments in historic towns or challenging rural settings.
We are an unusual practice in that we evaluate all sites and client requirements individually and are not tied to one way of looking at “correctness“ for the context. Our project portfolio is mixed, and it is not unusual for directors to have both traditional and modernist schemes on the go at any one time.
Within the practice there is a depth and breadth of design expertise across the architectural spectrum, including classical design, with many outstanding new buildings created over the years in this vocabulary. Our classical buildings are part of a tradition here but are also evolutionary. We strive to embed an elegance and approachability, as well as some wit, as a hallmark of approach to classism.
We believe this provides a joy and the freshness in our work, and shows a passion about what we bring to our understanding of a client’s vision. Working in all regions of the UK, we are knowledgeable about prevailing local forms and materials, whether that is a granite house in the Scottish Highlands or a thatched, handmade brick house in Hampshire. Based in the heart of the Cotswolds as we are, there is a particular breadth of experience at Yiangou about the traditional craft techniques based in this area, and of how to detail perfectly in stone.
In tandem with unusually deep knowledge of traditional buildings and their design, history, and construction, we are also deeply invested in the evolution of these standards whilst also believing that contemporary interventions are often the correct answer.
Ross Sharpe narrating the composition of the above folly
Watercolours can portray the true character of a scheme and are often favoured over renderings
3D CAD is often used as a design tool as much as it is one for visualisation. Click and drag to interact.
3D prints allow clients to get 'hands on' with their projects
We pride ourselves on ensuring that our projects are a direct, bespoke response to the demands of the site and the client and not an unimaginative recreation of a habitually repeated, singular style.
The focus is always on producing the highest quality design and detail work, regardless of the aesthetic approach. We are equally adept at contemporary and vernacular design as we are at classical, with the common thread through all of our work being an honesty and authenticity that sees the core design principles flow through every element of a project, from the grand decorative gestures to the finest of intricate details.
From the organic, hand-made, craftsmen-led detailing of our Arts and Crafts-inspired homes to the minimal, precise, clean lines of our contemporary designs, it is the commitment to giving time and creativity to every detail that keeps the quality of our work at the very highest levels.
In a talk entitled "The Challenge of Eclecticism”, Ross Sharpe addressed the Guild in London at the invitation of Mark Wilson Jones, chair of the Traditional Architecture Group.
We take a particularly high number of our projects on site, and run jobs in a way where our clients see the great benefit of this holistic service.
Our approach is firmly rooted in the principles of sustainability, enhancement of biodiversity and the promotion of the health and well-being of our clients and the communities that interact with our buildings.
01285 888 150
Copyright Yiangou Architects
