Rick Mather Architects (RMA) have been working in London since the early 70s. Best known for their award winning museum extensions, such as the Dulwich Picture Gallery and the National Maritime Museum, RMA's portfolio spans a broad spectrum of projects, including residential and student housing, master plans and urban design for both renovations and new buildings. They are world renowned for their intuitive sense of place and context, as well as their pioneering technologies in structural glass and sustainable design. The book establishes Rick Mather's unique approach to resolving complex design issues on both a large scale and in the fine details; the work of the practice is described in accessible terms through the texts and through a wealth of visual material, including photography and drawings supplied by the practice. Alongside this documentation, the visual aspect is supplemented by reproduced paintings, maps and drawings from a diverse range of sources, which have inspired and informed the work. Over the past 33 years, the practice has undertaken 500 projects.
These include the Virginia Museum of Fine Art; the student halls of residence in Norfolk; the Ashmolean Museum extension, Oxford; the masterplanning of London's South Bank Centre; as well as Mather's iconic housing of the 1980s and 90s. This book will cover the full range of the projects, exploring Mather's response to the technical and social requirements of the briefs, and the way that a US born architect has re-imagined Britain's culture and made it his own.