Hi, Stuart, how are you?

 

I'm very well, David, thank you. How are you?

 

I'm very well. Congratulations on your new role. I'd like to ask you about a number of things. Firstly, how it came about? Secondly, what sort of difference you think it will have in terms of your 18 years at Make and your spells at RSHP and Hopkins, before that - how different you think it might be working for a practice like Chybik + Kristof. So, let's, let's start with the first one. How did this come about? 

 

Well, as you've rightly said, I've moved on from Make after 18, nearly 19 wonderful years with Ken [Shuttleworth] and the team there for various reasons, and it was through a mutual contact, to be honest. Chybik + Kristof had been working with a guy that I knew had been an advisor in a key role at Rogers’ – Richard Rogers Partnership – back in the day. It was a mutual contact that quickly brought us together, literally within a day or two of me leaving Make. So, it all happened quite quickly. And then, I guess it was a period of dating, one might say (laughs)

 

To see if there was chemistry?

 

Yes. And then we had a few conversations. But I have to be very honest, I was unaware of the practice. I'd seen the name, certainly. I'd seen one or two projects published that had caught my eye over the last few years. But to be presented with that opportunity early on was really, really lucky, inspiring and very exciting, to be honest. And I was struck by the quality of work immediately. 

 

So, what is your new role and what will you be working on? What sort of areas will you be concentrating on? 

 

It is early days. I'm still finishing a project – the last project I was involved in – which was One Leadenhall. And that's nearly seven years and for Brookfield – will hopefully get to PC (Practical Completion), very soon this spring. It's been amazing. Another highlight in the career, I have to say. And once I'm through that, I'm committed as London director at Chybik + Kristof to grow the presence. I mean, Andre and Michael have been in London on and off for a year now. They’re at events, and they're obviously out and about, certainly in the architecture scene, meeting clients. They're great members of the NLA, so adding and debating and getting involved, which is great to see. And I guess me joining gives them a bit more credibility here, with my experience of three amazing practices that I have been very lucky to have worked at. It's really just to explore possibilities. There's certainly complementary experience there. The guys are well established in Europe, Central Europe, and across cultural, residential, masterplanning, sports sectors. We have some overlap, certainly in terms of sports and masterplanning. But I'm bringing my recent experience of the London commercial office market, which they obviously don’t have, and the office market generally. So hopefully there's a complementary skillset there. And, yeah, the future is exciting. Who knows where we'll end up. But I'm joining at an exciting time for the practice. There's real ambition there, from Chybik + Kristof. There's an established team – they already have a fantastic track record, and hopefully I can add and do my little bit to extend that further and give us a real presence here.

 

You mentioned commercial offices. Could you possibly characterize the London market broadly and in relation to offices currently? How would you characterize it?

 

From my experience, I mean, it is a difficult time. [It was] part of the reason, certainly, for moving on from Make – [they are} particularly exposed there.

 

In offices?

 

In offices. Sadly, you know, it's a difficult time, certainly for new build. You know, everyone's looking at retrofit, looking at the stock they have, and projects like One Leadenhall are massive, massive projects that take time to come to fruition, to be delivered, to be let, to be occupied. It's great to see in London that there is, a few years away, a great pipeline of the next generation of towers and bigger schemes. But in the meantime, I guess it's taking stock. Obviously, certainly, at the moment, it's challenging. It has been for a year or two, post-pandemic. And with Trump, the tariffs and everything, dare I say it, that's currently in the news, we're yet to see what's in store for us. But it is a challenging time, and there's lots of uncertainty out there. But people are coming back to offices. You know, the design side of it, the storytelling, the visionary stuff, working with amazing clients, amazing briefs; London is the place to be for amazing commercial office with retrofit, or new build, or everything in between. The potential is there, and London is certainly a leader. So: short term, perhaps difficult. But longer term, a lot to offer, and that's what I'm looking to be part of.

 

And does all of that uncertainty prompt you to look into other sectors, and other areas? 

 

Most definitely. And I think this is where we complement each other; certainly, in terms of me here and the bigger team elsewhere in Europe and around the world.  One of the attractive points of why I really joined them was that they already have this amazing track record of incredible projects. There's an indoor ice hockey arena, completing later this year; and there is another stadium that we've picked up recently. So, there's certainly large-scale projects.

 

In the UK?

 

No, elsewhere. But given that track record, I do think we’ve got something to offer. Certainly, my experience of large-scale infrastructure and sporting and masterplanning projects complements that as well. Not that we'll be too selective, but I'm hoping that we'll get into that mix, given the track record and me being part of it. Hopefully it will help things along a little bit in terms of believability and deliverability.

 

Is that an issue, then, breaking in a new name, as it were, into this milieu?

 

I don't know. I mean, this the thing about London. As you will know, there are so many fantastic architectural practices. It's a really tough market to break into. It's a really tough market if you're already here. There's so much competition. I think what strikes me about the work of Chybik + Kristof is that quality.  I mean, I have been out to see it. Before I said “Yes”, I did go and see some of the work. And it is exceptional. It's beautifully detailed. It's beautifully delivered. And perhaps it's another way – a refreshing way of approaching things and doing things. And I like that – something new, something different. So, if it's possible, it's certainly possible in London, I think. It's a global city. That's why Chybik + Kristof want to be here, want to establish themselves here. Why we're here, really. It is those opportunities, and I think that that experience from elsewhere, that experience across the sectors, ultimately, it's about quality of design, and there's no reason why we can't compete and hopefully pick up some of these amazing jobs which are out there.

 

Couple of last quick questions. Firstly, the last time I wrote about the practice in NLQ, you guys were working on an emoji for architects or architecture. Has that passed your gaze at all? Have you noticed this in the office?

 

It's not in the London office, dare I say it, but I have spoken to Andre Chybik about it, and perhaps it's a question for Andre to answer. But I think, you know, it's illustrative of the interest we have across all sorts of things. I think it's an interesting one to pursue, trying to get a new emoji onto everyone's ‘phone around the world. And the emoji, essentially, is one of our projects.

 

So, the emoji is representing architecture, not architects. 

 

Yes, it's architecture related.

 

And lastly, I did a quick search on you and discovered your Instagram, which features some of your art works. Could you just give me a little insight into that? What do you do?

 

Thanks for asking! (laughs) I wish I had more time, to be honest, as an architect and now trying to start a practice here. It's tough, what we do. You know, we commit, and we spend a lot of time in the day job – you know, you commit. We spend a lot of time at work. It's nice to have something outside of the day job. I mean, I've always painted. I've always drawn.

 

There's a beautiful watercolour I'm looking at right now, 'Tiburon shark, watercolour, 2003. Beautiful.

 

Thank you very much. I painted that, I think it was a birthday lunch. I did the sketch at some beautiful restaurant overlooking the Mediterranean Sea in Spain and took it back and turned it into the watercolour you see on the website. It's a lovely escape. And I really, I really enjoy it, drawing. I mean, I draw every day anyway, and I still enjoy that, with a sketchbook. And pushing technology as well. I'm interested in that and how, we can in the day job, still use hand drawn techniques to communicate. I am a firm believer in the power of that in a meeting, presenting, whatever. But actually, I still love the painting because it's completely different. Recently, I've been doing more abstract works, which are a complete release because I'm less precious about translating something and interpreting something. It's completely different. It's a feeling more than anything else. And it's just, you know, is the composition, right? Are the colours, right? It's a great release. I really enjoy it.

 

Why is 'shark' in brackets? Was there a Jaws moment that was set to arise to this chap?

 

(laughs) That painting in particular was these two guys, these old fishermen, their little outboard motor, I think, broke down...

 

(laughs)

 

(laughs) and they, ironically, they were on this quaint little boat that was called Tiburon. And Tiburon is obviously 'shark' in Spanish.

 

Oh, sorry, 'obviously'! Not obviously to me!

 

It was really funny. These guys had no concern - they were completely relaxed about the situation, just bobbing around in the middle. They were about half a mile offshore, but they just sat around smoking, having a chat, and then tried it half an hour every now and again. It came to life, and then in they'd come – putt, putt, putt, putt, into harbour. It was brilliant. And yeah, takes me back (laughs)

 

I'm not going to draw any analogies with the cutthroat commercial property market…

 

(laughs)

 

Thank you for speaking to me. That was really great! Best of luck!

 

Okay, brilliant, thank you so much. That was really fun! I'll meet you at the NLA at some point. 

 

That'd be lovely. Let's do that

 

Thank you, David. All the best.

See more of Stuart Blower’s artworks here: https://stuartblower.com/artist