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Journal

Why I started RISE, and what I got wrong in the first five years

by Sean Ronnie Hill on Jun 8, 2026

Annotated early concept perspective by RISE Design Studio, a hand-style line drawing of an open-plan interior with labels for the kitchen, kitchen island and breakfast bar, dining area, gallery, existing stair, glazed roof and patio access, showing the layout being explained to the client.

When I started RISE Design Studio in 2011, I thought architecture was the product. Like most architects, I believed the value sat in the design itself. If the drawings were thoughtful enough, the spaces beautiful enough, the craftsmanship good enough, then everything else would surely …

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Topics: Residential architecture London Architecture Trust in architecture Founding a practice Concept sketch Architect client relationship RIBA architect

We won't design a room before we understand how light moves through it

by Sean Ronnie Hill on Jun 8, 2026

Douglas fir-lined kitchen at Douglas House in Kensal Rise by RISE Design Studio, with white pendant lights, a marble island, a range cooker and clerestory skylights drawing daylight across the timber ceiling toward sliding doors that open onto the garden.

There are two windows on the rear wall of this kitchen, and they do not match.

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Topics: Residential architecture London Architecture Kitchen Design Kensal Rise daylighting Natural light in architecture House renovation Douglas fir Interior atmosphere

A Padel Court Looking Onto Regent's Park

by Sean Ronnie Hill on Jun 5, 2026

Padel court concept by RISE Design Studio looking onto Regent's Park, with a green playing surface and net, pale woven mesh perimeter walls, an exposed timber beam ceiling with linear lighting, and a full-height glazed end wall framing a mature chestnut tree and the tree-lined park beyond.

Stand on the Broad Walk in Regent's Park on a summer evening and the thing that stays with you is not a building. It is the trees. The long avenues of London plane and horse chestnut, the canopy closing overhead, the green going soft as the light drops. John Nash laid the park out two …

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Topics: London Architecture Biophilic Design Timber Structures Padel Court Sports Architecture Padel court design Regent's Park

What a Tennis Pavilion Should Feel Like: Designing the New Clubhouse at Sutton Churches

by Imran Jahn on Jun 1, 2026

Dusk visualisation of the new Sutton Churches Tennis Club clubhouse by RISE Design Studio: a timber pavilion with a red standing seam roof and exposed glulam structure, its cantilevered canopy reaching over a glazed clubroom and terrace, with players on the clay courts beyond.

I have been playing tennis for most of my life, and I have spent a good deal of it in clubhouses that did not quite work. The changing room you had to walk through to reach the bar. The single radiator losing its battle with January. The kettle everyone queued for and nobody owned. Yo …

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Topics: Sustainable architecture Community Architecture Tennis Pavilion Sustainable Tennis Pavilion Sports Architecture Mass Timber AECB CarbonLite Sutton Churches Tennis Club Sustainable Architecture London tennis clubhouse design low-carbon design accessible design CLT and glulam

What a lake teaches you about a building

by Sean Ronnie Hill on May 27, 2026

Architect Sean Ronnie Hill and client Zoe Birch of Physio Motion Mayfair at the Serpentine Lake, Hyde Park, London, after an early morning open water swim during the May 2026 heatwave.

At 6am this morning I was waist-deep in the Serpentine with a client and friend, Zoe Birch of Physio Motion. The water was 23.7°C. London is in a heatwave. The air was already warm before we got in.

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Topics: Passivhaus London Architect Low Energy Architecture Open water swimming Serpentine Lake Hyde Park Building performance Architecture and nature Thermal comfort Wellbeing and design

Earth as Image: Adam Weismann's Green Rammed Earth Skyspace at Matiz Gallery

by Sean Ronnie Hill on May 22, 2026

Sean Ronnie Hill, architect and founder of RISE Design Studio, with Ivonne Parra, director of Matiz Gallery London, standing in front of Adam Weismann's green rammed earth panels. May 2026

Earlier this week I visited Matiz Gallery in Barcelona and met with Ivonne Parra, the gallery's director. It was one of those gallery visits that stays with you. Not because of spectacle, but because of something quieter: the realisation that a material you work with in buildings can …

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Topics: Sustainable architecture natural materials rammed earth Sustainable Natural Materials Embodied Carbon Matiz Gallery Material Culture Vernacular Construction Unfired Clay Adam Weismann Claymoon Studio Fabric First Design Art and Architecture

Do I Need Insurance for My Home Renovation? What Every Homeowner Should Know

by Sean Ronnie Hill on May 21, 2026

Homeowner James Hobby speaking about his experience of a home collapse during renovation works and the cost of inadequate insurance cover. Still from a short film produced by Renovation Underwriting.

One homeowner's £250,000 loss shows exactly what is at stake when the right cover is not in place before works begin.

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Topics: Employer's Liability Renovation Advice contract works insurance property owners liability Home Renovation Buildings Insurance Insurance Professional Indemnity Homeowner Guide

Herbert Paradise Featured in Samsung Campaign

by Sean Ronnie Hill on May 20, 2026

Still from Samsung Germany Instagram campaign filmed at Herbert Paradise Kensal Rise by RISE Design Studio, showing two people looking upward in a calm, warmly lit interior with natural daylight from above.

Why calm architecture is becoming the new luxury

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Topics: Sustainable Design Kensal Rise Sustainable Architecture London Low Energy Architecture Herbert Paradise EnerPHit Retrofit Calm Interiors Natural Light Architecture Low Carbon Home Interior Architecture London Atmospheric Design

Energy Is No Longer Cheap. Most Homes Were Never Built to Handle That

by Sean Ronnie Hill on May 3, 2026

Rammed earth rear extension to a Victorian London terrace at dusk, with warm interior light visible through bronze-framed sliding doors, surrounded by a landscaped garden with cloud-pruned trees and hydrangeas.

A conflict overseas. A disrupted supply chain. An oil price spike. And within weeks, the cost of heating your home climbs again.

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Topics: Passivhaus Sustainable architecture enerphit Heat Pumps Fabric First Green Mortgage EPC Rating Energy Performance Home Retrofit Building Insulation

What Community Sports Clubs Need to Know Before Appointing an Architect

by Imran Jahn on Apr 23, 2026

Dusk view of Sutton Churches Tennis Club pavilion by RISE Design Studio, showing exposed glulam timber roof structure and vertical timber cladding with courts beyond.

Lessons from designing Sutton Churches Tennis Club's new low-carbon clubhouse - and what every club committee should ask before the process begins.

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Topics: Sustainable architecture Planning permission Community Architecture Sports Architecture Appointing an Architect Mass Timber AECB CarbonLite Sutton Churches Tennis Club
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