We work in an informal atmosphere from a five storey building in the heart of London’s fashion district, Fitzrovia.  Our building has been converted from tailors’ workrooms to mixed use.  The two partners, Wendy Shillam and Michael Robertson Smith, own the building.  We work here with an expanding group of dedicated architects and urban planners.   The building is conceived as a hot house for ideas and innovation, as a meeting place as well as a work place.  We host occasional contemporary art shows and from here we contribute to Urban Design Week and Architecture Week by offering walking tours around this part of London.   Fitzrovia is a good example of a successful mixed use inner city district.  It is a focus for new media industries and “dot.com” companies, it is home to people from all walks of life, and has one the lowest crime rates in the capital.

The Partners

Wendy Shillam RIBA MRTPI RSA

Wendy worked for MacCormac, Jamieson & Prichard, where she was responsible for the Sainsbury Building at Worcester College, Oxford, before setting up Shillam + Smith.  She is an architect and qualified town planner.  Her role in the practice is to direct all masterplanning projects and guide architectural projects through the planning process.  She is recognised as one of the leading exponents of urban renaissance and is regularly called upon to comment in the media.  As well as being an architectural critic, Wendy is an RIBA competitions assessor, Civic Trust assessor and chair of the RIBA planing policy group, where she has been spearheading a campaign to bring design back to the heart of the planning process.

Wendy has been the inspiration behind some of the practice’s ground-breaking regeneration schemes, most notably the competition to design King Square in Islington, the work in Birmingham’s inner city multi-ethnic areas and most recently, the highly praised integrated 30 year masterplan for Swindon.

Wendy’s skills are strategic and broad.  She is an excellent public speaker and takes a personal role in every public consultation the practice undertakes.  She has an ability to synthesise complex urban problems into simple and achievable designs. 

Out of hours I enjoy anything creative and constructuve - cooking, decorating, knitting. I am an avid novel reader.  I enjoy long walks and  sunny beaches.

Michael Robertson Smith RIBA

Michael honed his architectural skills by working for Sir Norman Foster on one of the world’s most complex buildings, the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank in Hong Kong.  He directs all the practice’s architectural projects, managing the project architects.  He understands the complexity of building science and can translate design ideas into built reality.  His skill is maintaining the design integrity of projects from inception to completion.  He has developed long-term relationships with a number of our clients who return to us with building projects again and again. 

 Most notably, Michael has managed projects for Cambridge University, all the practice’s national museum work, developments in London’s Soho for Khiara Properties and IBM offices in the UK.