6a architects was founded by Tom Emerson and Stephanie Macdonald in 2001. They are best known for their contemporary art galleries, educational buildings, artists’ studios and residential projects, often in sensitive historic environments.

The 40-strong practice recently completed a new 68-room hall of residence for Churchill College, Cambridge (2016), which was awarded a riba Regional East Award in 2017. It is the first completely new court to be built at Churchill since the college’s foundation. A new studio complex for photographer Juergen Teller (2016) was winner of both a riba Regional London award and riba London Building of the Year in 2017. Recent arts projects include a collaboration with artist Gabriel Orozco on his new sculpture garden at South London Gallery (2016), a new contemporary art gallery for Sadie Coles HQ in Mayfair (2015), a cast iron shop front for fashion designer Paul Smith (2014) and refurbishment of the textile and fashion galleries at the Victoria & Albert Museum (v&a) in 2013. 

6a architects rose to prominence with the completion of two critically acclaimed public art galleries, Raven Row (2009), which won a riba Award in 2011, and the expanded South London Gallery (2010). The practice is currently working on significant arts, education and residential projects around the world. This includes the renovation and extension of Peckham Road Fire Station, the next step in the South London Gallery’s award-winning urban art campus; a major expansion of leading contemporary art gallery MK Gallery in Milton Keynes; two mixed-used towers on the waterfront in Haafen City, Hamburg and a number of new build private houses and foundations for artists and collectors, alongside new projects in New York and Melbourne.

6a continues to work collaboratively on projects across the fields of art, exhibitions, fashion and science, having earned a reputation for sensitivity and diversity in the practice’s approach. The practice’s first book, Never Modern, was published in 2014 (Zürich: Park Books).

The practice has won major national and international competitions and been recognized with several prestigious awards, including riba Awards and consecutive nominations for the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture –  Mies Van der Rohe Award (2011, 2013 & 2015). In 2012, it was awarded the Schelling Medal for Architecture.