A small studio with a fixed method.
Oblique works on architecture and urban design. The studio is currently developing its work as design research, with typological studies that test a position before it is applied to a site.
Position
- Section before plan
- Plans distribute area; sections decide light, height, structure and the relationship to the ground. We resolve the section first and let the plan follow from it, which is why our projects tend to be spatially specific and programmatically loose.
- Repairable construction
- A detail that cannot be opened, inspected and closed again by an ordinary trade is a detail with a short life. We prefer fewer materials, thicker assemblies and junctions that a person can understand while standing in front of them.
- The first three metres
- Most of what a building gives a place happens between the pavement and the first floor slab. That zone gets a disproportionate share of the studio's design time, and it is settled before any consideration of silhouette.
- Retain before replace
- Where an existing structure can carry the brief, it should. Reuse is assessed as a design question, covering what can be removed, what can be left rough and what must be reversible, rather than as a constraint to be minimised.
Project stages
Site & Context
Walking, measuring, photographing, and reading the constraints that already exist before proposing anything.
Brief & Programme
Turning requirements into spatial terms: areas, adjacencies, orientation, and what the project is actually for.
Concept
A small number of clearly different options, tested in section and model, each with a stated argument.
Schematic Design
One direction resolved: plan, section, structure and envelope brought into agreement.
Design Development
Materials, junctions and performance developed with consultants; the drawings become buildable.
Documentation
The full construction set, specified so that the intent survives procurement.
Consents & Coordination
Statutory submissions and consultant coordination, managed as design work rather than administration.
On Site
Regular attendance, review of samples and mock-ups, and resolution of what the drawings could not anticipate.
Stage names vary between jurisdictions and procurement routes. On any given project the sequence is agreed in writing at the outset and mapped to the local standard.
Studio model
Drawing decides. Modelling verifies.
Every project begins with hand-drawn sections and a physical model at a scale large enough to show construction. Digital modelling follows, and is used for what it is genuinely good at: coordination, quantity, tolerance and repetition. Renders are made late, sparingly, and never as a substitute for a decision.
The studio works with independent structural, environmental and heritage consultants appointed per project, so that the technical team matches the building rather than the office. Consultant coordination is treated as design work and stays with the design team throughout.
People
Studio biographies, registrations and professional memberships are published only once verified, and are shared directly on request in the meantime. We would rather this page be short than inaccurate.