Los Angeles, CA – Widely recognized as a pioneer in multidisciplinary design, RIOS announced the opening of its European office as part of the firm’s widening international expansion strategy. The extension of RIOS London into the European market is rooted in the firm's desire to expand its worldview through a global practice. It is motivated by the market's interest in project types where RIOS has award-winning work, including life sciences, landscape, creative content production spaces, and more.

"Our efforts to grow our practice globally are aligned with our ambitions to design bold and attuned spaces, especially in markets that value innovative and ambitious design," said Jessamyn Davis, Co-CEO, RIOS. "The pandemic heightened our interest in expanding our team, and London is an incredible melting pot of cultures, history, and contexts from all over the world. We are excited to bring our unique approach to interdisciplinary design to a new audience."

Paul Westwood joined RIOS as a Design Director and will lead the RIOS London office. As an award-winning architect with more than 15 years of experience across international projects, Paul brings an audacious vision of future cities and a portfolio of rich design work. Before joining RIOS, Paul was a Project Leader at Heatherwick Studio.

"RIOS' move to London is an exciting step as it's home to some of the most forward-thinking developers in the world," said Paul Westwood, Design Director, Architect, RIOS. "London is my home and coincidentally home to the best developers in the world. I'm thrilled to bring RIOS design excellence to the U.K. audience and showcase our talents in community-led and forward-thinking architecture."

Founded in Los Angeles, RIOS is renowned for its skill and design excellence across architecture, landscape, urban planning, interior architecture, experiential, product, and graphic design. RIOS London will work directly with the L.A. office to service current projects, new commissions, and pending ventures while infusing RIOS values, design processes, and principles into the British market and across Europe.  

"At RIOS, we ask ourselves what our superpower is, and for us, marrying the facets of multidisciplinary practice to find innovation is at the core," said Andy Lantz, Creative Director, and Co-CEO. "With Paul at the helm of our London office, we are eager to merge his design talents and entrepreneurial spirit to bring groundbreaking designs to clients that deliver synergy and joy between built and natural environments."

RIOS' portfolio of global projects is diverse across commercial, civic, hospitality, institutional and residential. Recent projects by RIOS include content production and entertainment spaces such as Spotify's L.A. Content Campus and Echelon Studios, life science spaces including the world-class cancer research and treatment institute, the Lawrence J. Ellison Institute for Transformative Medicine, landscape architecture including Palm Springs Downtown Park and 1 Hotel West Hollywood, commercial adaptive reuse work including ROW DTLA and more.

The RIOS London office is located at 68-80 Hanbury Street, London, E1 5JL. For more information visit www.rios.com.

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About RIOS: RIOS is an international design collective working beyond boundaries to inventively combine disciplines and amplify the impact of design. Combined, our talents comprise a wide range of professional skills including architecture, landscape, urban planning, interior design, video, graphics and signage, experiential, and product design. Our work is irreversibly connected to the narrative of place and the complex order of human culture, creating solutions that are joyful, authentic, and unexpected. Our projects are diverse, including commercial, civic, hospitality, institutional, and residential. For more information visit www.rios.com

For additional information, high-res imagery or to request an interview please contact:

Etosha Moh

Director of Public Relations, RIOS

Email: [email protected]