First of all, cameronwebster always work to reach a conceptual clarity that transcends fashion and the irrational motifs of rather too much recent architecture. The scale of this endeavour ranges from the very small – such as the design of products like a bedside chair ¬– to the very big – their urban design proposals for the 21st Century Green in Pollokshields.

Then their freedom to express this clarity exists only because they have a complete and practical understanding of the building process. Craft meets art. Robin Webster is the son of a stained glass artist; Miranda Webster has experience in the practical management of very large and complex buildings, such as the BBC at White City; Stuart Cameron trained as a joiner in his father’s building firm before reading architecture. Finally it is clear that they have a particular sensitivity to the communicative power of materials – in their assembly, juxtapositions and response to lighting. At Lindow House, for example, the slate, zinc and glass are detailed with loving precision around a warm timber core.

These architects are disciplined and rigorous then, but they have a sense of the romantic. They also share the academic’s wish to take a step back from the details of a brief and consider the ultimate purpose of an architectural design – to benefit all. [continues...]