You walk down the street and see these amazing buildings that stand out while just ‘fitting in’, you walk into a shop and wonder why it is a pleasure to peruse, because you manage to walk around and see everything so clearly. These things seem so natural that you can’t imagine that someone worked extremely hard at getting the right mix for your seamless experience.
Torquil McIntosh, Sybarite Architects
One of the people who works so hard to generate this simplicity is Torquil McIntosh at Sybarite. If you have had the pleasure of meeting Torquil you know he brings a sense of fun and mischief to the party! He manages to ask the questions people are afraid of asking.
This is especially useful in his line of work and it shines through as Leslie Chiu at Ward Ferry Management describes, “Sybarite’s designs are witty, innovative and ground-breaking, yet are balanced by a careful attention to detail and purpose which is what makes them truly new classics.”
They named their practice after the natives of Sybaris who were stereotyped as seekers of pleasure and luxury, this philosophy seems to run through their work.
Not satisfied with designing buildings for the short term, Sybarite are looking to the future of housing in interesting and creative ways. They have designed a tree house that can take 5 bedrooms at 300sq feet: “the future of country living”
By all accounts, Torquil is not your typical architect. He manages to combine humanity, nature and technology to create a positive space that is not in conflict. I am not an expert here, but he incorporates the artist as well as the architect, no doubt due to the discipline that he refined studying at École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts. I am sure that many living artists cannot boast of being featured at the V&A, but an architect? They featured in the V&A as part of AJ Corus 40 Under 40 exhibition.
You may think someone this accomplished would be aloof, not Torquil, he has a real interest in people and loves to talk about interesting subjects, it’s why we love him here at Tech Talkfest!
You may be lucky to meet him, or you can follow @SybariteArch on twitter to find out where the next piece of art will be appearing.
You can see his work around the world, here in London you can see it by walking into a Marni store, amongst others. Treat it as part of your gallery tour of London!
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