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Journal

RIBA Stage 3 on a mews house: Spatial Coordination at Bathurst Mews

A calm mews house interior in natural materials: a wall of dark reclaimed timber cladding with a framed artwork, limewashed plaster walls, limestone steps rising in raking daylight, a stone worktop with an undermounted sink and aged brass tap, and wide timber boards underfoot. RISE Design Studio.

Stage 3 of the RIBA Plan of Work is where a project stops being a promising concept and becomes a coordinated, buildable design. The 2020 Plan of Work calls it Spatial Coordination; many people still know it by its older name, Developed Design.

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A New Standard for Living: Why Passivhaus Matters

Exterior view of a sustainable low energy London home designed by RISE Design Studio, featuring high-performance insulation, triple-glazed windows, and a contemporary aesthetic aligned with Passivhaus principles.

At RISE, we believe that architecture has the power to restore balance—between people and planet, cost and comfort, purpose and performance. The buildings we design must rise to meet more than just today’s needs. They must lead. They must inspire. They must work.

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A Padel Court Under the Westway

Indoor padel court concept by RISE Design Studio, with a green playing surface and net, pale mesh perimeter walls, a fully glazed end wall opening onto a planted living wall, and a large rooflight with linear ceiling lighting above.

Drive west out of central London and you pass under the Westway without really seeing it. Most of us do. It is a road on stilts, a long grey ribbon of concrete carrying traffic over the rooftops of Notting Hill and Ladbroke Grove. Underneath, in the gaps between the columns, the city …

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Planning a Renovation or New Build in Barcelona? Here's What to Know About Architect Fees

Render of a single-storey rammed earth villa on the Costa Brava, its layered earth walls and deep flat roof shading a porch with timber screens, reached by wide stone steps through wild grasses, wildflowers and boulders beneath mature pines. RISE Design Studio

If you've recently moved to Barcelona, or you're planning a renovation or new build here, the cost of an architect is usually one of the first things you want to pin down. Close behind it comes the question of finding an English-speaking architect you can actually trust with a project …

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Designing for Summer: Why Retrofit Is More Than a Winter Strategy

Exposed ceiling during retrofit by RISE Design Studio showing installed insulation and ventilation ductwork, designed to reduce overheating and improve indoor air quality as part of a sustainable, climate-resilient home upgrade.

☉ At RISE Design Studio, we believe good architecture doesn’t just shelter us - it sustains us. That means thinking beyond cold snaps and insulation R-values. As our summers get longer, hotter, and more unpredictable, the conversation around retrofit must evolve. It’s no longer just a …

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Rethinking Housing, Heritage and AI

Contemporary sustainable housing development in London designed by RISE Design Studio, featuring brick facades, landscaped frontages, and integrated green elements in an urban street setting.

Reflections on the future of sustainable architecture in the UK

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Listening, Legacy, & Low Energy: Sean Ronnie Hill on the Green Building Matters Podcast

Sean Ronnie Hill (left) and Charlie Cicchetti (right) standing in front of a vertical wooden slat wall. Sean wears a dark blue button-up shirt with arms crossed; Charlie wears a red shirt with glasses and a relaxed smile. Image promoting their podcast discussion on sustainable architecture and green building.

What does it mean to build better? To design not just for beauty, but for performance, comfort, and future generations?

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£2bn for Housing: A Start, But We’re Still Falling Short

Modern red-brick affordable housing development with pitched roofs, black-framed windows, timber detailing, and landscaped communal garden, designed to enhance sustainability, natural light, and community living.

☉ RISE Design Studio | Architects + Low Energy Experts

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How to Design an Eco House That Works With Nature, Not Against It

Interior view of a sustainable, open-plan living space designed with Passivhaus principles, featuring natural timber finishes, high-performance glazing, a suspended fireplace, and seamless indoor-outdoor connection for energy-efficient, low-carbon living.

Building for Tomorrow Starts Today At RISE, we believe that the homes we create today shape the way we live tomorrow. The old model of building - extract, consume, discard - has had its day. In its place is something quieter, more considered, and far more urgent: a need to design home …

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The simplest sustainable interventions are the ones we keep designing away

Decorative Gaudí-style balconies on a colourful mosaic façade in Barcelona, showing how balconies blend art, passive cooling, natural shading and urban character, illustrating the balance between architectural beauty, sustainability and community connection in Mediterranean design.

In Barcelona, balconies are so woven into the rhythm of daily life that you stop noticing them. Until you do. Little theatres above the street, each one a buffer between the quiet of a private room and the noise of the city below. Pause on any residential street in the Eixample and yo …

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