Welcome to Mae

Following on from the RIBA Stirling Prize shortlist of Sands End Arts & Community Centre, The architects shortlisted for the 2022 Prize reveal the stories behind their buildings, what inspires them, and what it would mean to win the UK’s most prestigious architectural award. The event took place on Wednesday 21st September at RIBA London at 66 Portland Place, however a second event has been scheduled in Leeds for early October.

Alex presented a brief talk, followed by a panel discussion and a live Q&A with the audience, which was well received by the crowd.

The winner of the RIBA Stirling Prize will be announced on Thursday 13 October 2022.

Mæ's new publication 'Towards a Resilient Architecture' authored by Alex Ely has been completed and will be available for preorder from 10th October.

The hardback explores the interconnected social, sustainable and spatial principles that underpin the design of more environmentally conscientious buildings and places, illustrated through models, drawings and images of selected key projects by the award-nominated London-based architecture practice Mæ.

Each project outlines beneficial strategies for creating more sustainable designs, achieving social equity and working within our planet’s limits to elevate the human spirit in the long-term. This book posits strategies to design buildings and places that enrich culture and society, offering insight from researchers and practitioners, as well as richly illustrated documentation of key architectural schemes that put these principles into practice. It is a call to arms for ways to create more environmentally regenerative architecture, applying its ideas to architectural practice worldwide.

Alex spoke to a full house at the Barbican on Tuesday 20th September as part of the ‘Architecture on Stage’ series. His talk ‘Towards a Resilient Architecture’ marks the publication of Mæ’s new book by the same name. ‘Architecture on Stage’ run by the Architecture Foundation, in association with the Barbican, is a programme of talks by the world’s leading architects.

Mæ are pleased to announce a new starter amongst the team; Tom Jarman, commencing his role as our newest Director.

Tom has a wealth of experience in a whole host of sectors such as masterplanning, commercial, residential, education, arts and culture and is a welcome addition to our team here in Southwark.

He will be responsible for several ongoing projects within the practice and will be an active contributor to the creative and technical leadership of projects across the Mæ portfolio.

Re-Set-Go is a hand-on experience and mentoring programme established by the London Practice Forum with the mission diversifying architecture practices. The programme provides opportunities for Black, Asian and multi-ethnic individuals and women from the boroughs of Lambeth, Lewisham, Southwark and Wandsworth.

As well as offering mentoring sessions and portfolio & CV surgeries, we also hosted graduate student, Abiba, for a 6-week paid internship. We were delighted that Abiba had chosen to join us as she wasn’t undertaking architectural studies but came from an urban history and culture background. She joined our estate regeneration team working in Hammersmith and Fulham and undertook a detailed and invaluable study on the local community.

We connected with the students being hosted by other London Practice Forum members for weekly catch ups, sharing experiences with each other. They were an extraordinary talented group of young people and we very much look forward to working with them in the future.

When we proposed a day workshop for a group of Year 10 students to our clients at Be First, we knew it would be a wonderful opportunity to talk to this group of twenty 15- to 17-year-olds about what is important to them within their neighbourhood.

The students worked in groups with a Mæ team leader focusing on housing, civic & community, commercial and public realm. After a walk-and-talk, taking photographs and making sketches, the students jointly planned their own ‘ideal’ neighbourhood. As a practice that specialises in community-led regeneration projects, we were able to watch and listen to what was important to these young people, whether it was green spaces, cycle routes, a local shop or a home with outside space and a door to the street.

It's important to us to share our skills and knowledge through our education programmes. However, the ideas and experiences that young people, such as those from the Warren School, share with us are invaluable to our development as stakeholder-led architects.