Hollaway Studio is an architectural and interior design practice that embraces the past, the present, and the future and places people and feeling at the core of its architecture philosophy.

The Southeast is our home. We have designed and built many projects in London over the years including Chapel Downs’ Gin Works in Kings Cross’s old gasworks building, The Fisheries in Hackney, and jeweller to the stars Stephen Webster’s flagship store in Mayfair.  We create ambitious designs that reflect the surroundings focused on how people use spaces and flow through a building. Working closely with our clients, our team of architects and interior designers realise your brief and aspirations to create a successful and memorable guest experience.

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Design begins with feeling – for place, for the past, for the needs and wants of the now, and for a future that matters. It listens. It empathises. It’s pragmatic. It’s an understanding that informs everything we do. It makes buildings that work – truly, beautifully. This is how we approach all architecture and design projects, in London and beyond.

An architecture and design practice is nothing without its people, and the very best practices are those in which everyone has a voice – however different it may be. We are extremely fortunate Hollaway is exactly this: an extraordinary bunch of thinkers, talkers, and doers. These are the people that get buildings made.

Some places live or die on their ability to tell a bloody good story. The interior design of the temporary sited Gin Works in Kings Cross’s old gasworks building is one such place. A London gin distillery, an interactive gin-making laboratory, and a bar and restaurant. The experiencing key to Gin Works is a copper bath suspended above the bar, which serves as the talking point for the story of Prohibition’s underground gin-baths. It’s a wonderful example of how a single and seemingly leftfield decision knits the experience of an entire building together.

Hollaway’s approach to architecture and design always starts with people and place.  How does a building contribute to the community it will inhabit? How will people interact and engage with the architecture created in this space?  Under his leadership and hands on approach Guy Hollaway has created a design-led Practice committed to innovative building solutions, with work ranging from prestigious one off commissions to large scale regeneration projects.

See all of our Projects

The RIBA award-winning architecture and design practice has built its reputation working on a wide array of projects, including a cutting-edge skate park, the world’s first heritage theme park, a bespoke artist’s studio in an open field, and a high-end seafood restaurant. The breadth of these projects may be wide, but each one brings the perfect balance of playfulness and sincerity, with a firm focus on placemaking, sustainability and the experience of the individuals who will use the space.

London
10A Acton Street WC1X 9NG
+44 (0)20 7096 5425

Kent
The Tramway Stables, Rampart Road
Hythe CT21 5BG
+44 (0)1303 260 515

Speak to our team about your project

Did you know?
The London Festival of Architecture

Celebrating the architectural capital of the world, the London Festival of Architecture is a month-long annual festival with a wide range of public events taking place across the entirety of the city. As the world’s largest annual festival of architecture, the LFA (as it is known) supports the range of architectural talent found in London.

However, it also welcomes guests, professionals, and experts from across the world, while also engaging with the public to get them to take more notice of the places that they see every day but to see them in a new light and with new insights.

The history of London Festival of Architecture

The first London Festival of Architecture was held in 2004 and was an immediate success, since being held every year to become the world’s largest architectural festival. There were over 400,000 attendees in 2018, 600,000 in 2018 and over 800,000 attendees in 2019’s festival, as well as millions of people watching from across the world. Each festival has had a different theme since its inception, with a focus on making as many of the attractions and events free, to ensure that as many people can enjoy them as possible.

The festival is open to partnerships and collaborations with architectural and design professionals, teams, and practitioners across the city, but it managed by a core festival programming team. The team works with an extensive and diverse range of architecture and design professionals, cultural organisations, academic institutions, and artists to make each festival a success.

2020 marked a departure from the usual London Festival of Architecture as a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The focus of that year’s festival shifted to a more digital approach, engaging online audiences in a whole new way and opening the festival up to more people than ever before.

London Festival of Architecture throughout the years

Originally the London of Festival of Architecture was known as the Architecture Biennale, an event that was envisioned to happen once every two years and to last no more than ten days. The very first festival in 2004 was focused on Clerkenwell and how the past determines the future with topics such as gentrification being explored.

The London Festival of Architecture was an immediate success, and in 2006, the theme addressed the notion of change, which highlights like the London Oasis sculpture identifying how the city has changed identity through architecture. In 2008, the theme was ‘Fresh’ looking at how fresh perspectives, cultures, and collaborations influence the city. It was this year that Exhibition Road was first closed to the traffic as the festival started to grow so large as to require its own space for the duration. The last Biennial was 2010, looking at the Welcoming City, focusing on specific routes through London that would welcome new arrivals throughout the ages.

Since 2012, the festival has been annual, with themes like The Playful City in 2012, A Time For Architecture in 2013, Capital in 2014, Work In Progress in 2015, Community in 2016, Memory in 2017, Identity in 2018, Boundaries in 2019, and Power & Digital in 2020.