We are a forward-thinking design studio dedicated to making places that connect and resonate with people.
We are a forward-thinking design studio dedicated to making places that connect and resonate with people.
“Places have a profound effect on our minds, emotions, behaviours, sense of identity, creativity, productivity and sense of community.
Yet often our environments can be soul-less, sterile, generic, even deadening and fragmenting. People are disconnected from their needs, from one another, from a sense of belonging and from the natural environment. Our ways of living are radically changing at rapid pace. Now more than ever, we need places the are uplifting, restorative, sensory, enriching, convivial and that bring joy to everyday life.“
MATTER . SPACE . SOUL is a progressive multidisciplinary design studio working to re-imagine places in response to changing patterns of life — by putting human experience at the centre, in order to design for health, happiness, quality of life and wellbeing.
UNIQUE INNOVATIVE APPROACH
We work fluidly across architecture, interiors, public art, and placemaking – but go beyond surface aesthetics to incorporate emotional, social and cultural impact into spatial design.
Since inception, the studio has been recognized for it’s forward-thinking approaches and we often speak at industry conferences on our particular perspectives; looking more deeply into the intangible human impacts of places.
Our fresh approach has been recognized in publications like;
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Groundbreakers/Rising Stars 2021: Wallpaper* Magazine
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Women to Watch 2021: Elle Decoration
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ResiTrailblazers 2020: Property Week
MAKING PLACES THAT PEOPLE LOVE
The guiding philosophy of the studio - Matter, Space, Soul - is a design ethos that draws both on the sciences of the mind and the power of the arts to make emotional connection, to create places that people love.
Our work aims to capture and express the spirit of a place, people, communities or brands- to make places that resonate, that are meaningful and special and that spark joy – places that deepen people’s connection to place and each other in inventive and artistic ways.
Do this through Experiential Emotional Design –a more “intimate”, spatial-story telling approach to the design of places focused on how a place will make people feel – how we can bring joy, sense of identity, enhance sociability and sense of belonging.
OUR JOURNEY SO FAR
A year after inception, we won an international competition for ideas to solve the housing crisis in 2015, which formed the start of our more “intimate” approach.
Since then our portfolio has included experience-led hotels and a wellness resort in Berlin, wellbeing-focused workspace for a new law firm in Bermondsey, an innovative City of London public space/public art scheme at Blackfriars, a new rural arts hubs for the Merz Barn in the Lake District, concepts for the headquarters for an ethical fashion brand, as well as many one-off homes.
We have been commissioned by the British Council to develop radical proposals for regeneration in East London, awarded grants to explore fresh perspectives and strategies in response to the changing nature of living and cities, such as making “Intimate Neighbouhoods” in New York, and worked with the Loneliness Lab as an expert contributor on how the design of homes and neighbourhoods can encourage sociability and enhance mental health.
WINNER:
New Ideas for Housing
New London Architecture and
Greater London Authority
AWARDED:
International Development Fund
FELLOWSHIP:
Fellow of international think tank
FOUNDER; Natasha Reid
Passionate about the relationship between people and places, Natasha founded her studio in 2014 after having developed her career at award-winning practices on high profile, design-led projects. Natasha is often invited to speak publicly at industry conferences on forward-thinking solutions to pressing issues and human-centred approaches, such as at the Mayor’s Homes for Londoners Conference.
Alongside her design work she is a Fellow of think tank the Centre for Conscious Design and an Associate of the Quality of Life foundation, with published articles on "Compassionate Spaces" and "Urban Empathy". She has co-chaired the Conscious Cities London 2020 conference on science-informed, human-centred and socially conscious design.
Natasha’s approach is rooted in a “phenomenological” design ethos from her undergraduate studies at Cambridge University (Architecture, MA Hons), and also socially-engaged practice from postgraduate studies at the Cass (Professional Diploma in Architecture, Distinction). She is a visiting architecture critic at several universities. Alongside the studio’s work, she is also commissioned as an artist.
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SELECTED PUBLIC SPEAKING
BeFirst (Barking Council); Wellbeing-led Design, 2021
London Society; Wellbeing and High Density after Covid, 2021
Conscious Cities London Conference 2020; Co-chair
Conscious Cities London Conference; Compassionate Spaces, 2020
Class of 2020; Living Homes & New models for Wellbeing
Design Council panel; Future of Work, 2020
Loneliness Lab; Homes that Connect, 2020
London Mayor’s Housing Conference; Wellbeing-led models for development, 2019
Manchester University; Architecture for Impact,. 2018
New London Architecture; New Ideas for Housing. 2017
London Build conference; New Ideas for Housing. 2017
Ecobuild conference; New Ideas for Housing. 2016
International Architecture Showcase / British Council; Negotiating Transition 2015
Oxford Brookes University; Beyond architects/ Beyond architecture. 2014
SELECTED PRESS
Wallpaper* - Groundbreakers / Rising Stars 2021
Elle Decoration - Women to Watch 2021
Property Week - ResiTrailblaizers 2020
Guardian - London calling... for help in its housing crisis, 2015
Evening Standard - Floating neighbourhood and M25 mega-city among plans to solve London’s housing crisis, 2015
TimeOut - Floating homes, a suburban megacity and more ideas to solve London’s housing crisis, 2015
Domus - New Ideas for Housing, 2015
Arch Daily - NLA and Mayor of London Select 10 Winners in “London’s Housing Crisis” Competition, 2015
Dezeen - NLA unveils 10 winning designs in ideas competition addressing London’s housing crisis, 2015
DesignBoom - Embassy for refugees: a city sanctuary by natasha reid, 2014