Childhood friends Chris Kennedy, an architect, and Tom Woods, a product designer, set up their joint practice in 2014 in Peckham, south London. Now, the young studio counts a team of 11 designers and architects. At the heart of their approach sits ‘user-focus, tenacity, and a problem-solving mindset’, they say; but their consideration for kindness, integrity and empathy is also something that distinctly comes through when you talk to the enthusiastic founders of Kennedy Woods Architecture. The studio is also the UK's first – and currently, only – B-corp certified UK architecture practice.
A B-Corporation accreditation is a ‘badge’, awarded to businesses that balance commercial success and purpose. ‘In simple terms, we are committing to balancing people, planet and profit,' explain the team. ‘In other words, thinking about all stakeholders, not just shareholders, that our business impacts during key decision-making. This includes employees, suppliers, society and the environment too. There’s a rigorous certification process you have to undergo, which measures your business’ entire social and environmental performance. This is regularly reassessed, and we aim to continually improve our impact for each assessment.’
What led them to get the certification? ‘We wanted to stand out among the noise,' they say. ‘As an objective, third-party guarantee of sustainable and ethical business practices, our B-corp status is a badge that helps us connect with like-minded clients interested in impact, as well as attracting purpose-driven talent.' While the accreditation remains a rarity among their peers, the pair feel there’s a sense of a growing movement around it.
Led by this approach, the studio has been working on a wealth of commissions since its inception, a key one being becoming the design partner for a nursery start-up, N Family Club, that is looking to disrupt the education sector and create a network of Ofsted Outstanding schools. Developing, together with the business, the overall spatial identity for a series of nurseries all over London, Kennedy Woods has been working to translate educational philosophy and operational requirements into a set of design standards.
RELATED STORY
‘By understanding in detail what works for children, parents and the operator, we’ve been able to convert a range of building types, including churches, community centres, care homes, and retail spaces, into nurseries. Each time playing to the character of the original buildings while maintaining a consistent brand experience,' the team say.
Another important project for the firm was ‘Hearing Birdsong’, a healthcare innovation project they produced together with UCL and the Dyson School of Engineering to co-design and prototype a new type of hearing test. This might feel a long way from conventional architecture, but Woods’ product design background means he and Kennedy have worked on a lot of less ‘traditional projects, including modular and micro-architecture schemes’. While Kennedy and Woods don’t believe in an aesthetic house style, they are very particular about process: ‘We follow a “design thinking methodology” – an evidence-based, human-centred approach to innovation popularised in product and service design – that allows us to access a wide variety of project types.' This method involves a solution-based sequence that goes through five key steps: Empathise, Define (the problem), Ideate, Prototype, and Test. The team’s latest design is for a zero-carbon new-build school in a particularly constrained backland site in east London – they have just submitted their planning application and are eagerly awaiting results. Under the ‘less traditional’ projects banner, Kennedy and Woods are working on launching a user-centred architecture framework, built to help organisations innovate with the end-user in mind, to improve critical social infrastructure. Inspired by their experiences and faced with the industry's – and the world's – Covid-induced challenges, while armed with ambition and its defining, considerate approach, this young studio is already jumping into action.
Information
-
Samuel Ross begins a new chapter with Zara: ‘Clothes give you the power to transform’Samuel Ross gives Wallpaper* a first look at his ‘multi-chapter design dialogue’ with Zara, which begins with a clothing collection launching this February
-
A new lakeshore cottage in Ontario is a spectacular retreat set beneath angled zinc roofsFamily Cottage by Vokac Taylor mixes spatial gymnastics with respect for its rocky, forested waterside site
-
Steve McQueen presents a portrait of protest in BritainTurner Contemporary’s groundbreaking exhibition Resistance reframes the history of protest, reminding us of photography’s political potential
-
From a mobile pub to a thatched canopy: Japanese architecture and craft explored at AA show in London'Distillation of Architecture', a new AA show in London, pairs architects with materials and makers in an exploration of craft through the Japanese lens
-
A library in a London telephone box? This is a charming reading nook full of surprisesSet in a restored London telephone box, Upper Street Little Library is a cosy beacon to encourage reading to the wider community
-
This revamped east London terraced house is a music lover’s dreamAn east London terraced house gets a boost of personality and sustainability thanks to Archmongers, whose transformation makes room for the owners’ creativity and extensive record collection
-
This elegant infill project slots beautifully into the London streetscapeIn this infill project, a row of garages in Blackheath, south-east London, has been replaced by a contemporary family home by local practice Mailen Design
-
Don’t Move, Improve 2025: the 14 London homes adding design oomph to the everydayThe shortlist for Don’t Move, Improve 2025 has been announced, revealing 14 residential projects across London that add value and pizazz to their inhabitants’ daily lives
-
Space House: explore the brutalist London landmark’s new chapterSpace House, a landmark of brutalist architecture by Richard Seifert & Partners in London’s Covent Garden, is back following a 21st-century redesign by Squire & Partners and developer Seaforth Land
-
Fire-damaged Walworth Town Hall shows off majestic transformationWalworth Town Hall gets a much-needed reimagining by Feix & Merlin, who transformed the heritage building into a contemporary workspace and a hub of its local community in south London
-
Hanif Kara on building materials, the transition from old to new, and a healthy dose of realismHanif Kara, co-founder of structural engineering practice AKT II, discusses building materials and the future of sustainability
