Urban Projects Bureau is a leading creative agency specialising in architecture, urbanism, spatial strategy and design. Committed to spatial practice as a transformative process, Urban Projects Bureau engages in pioneering work that expands the possibilities of design innovation, pushing the boundaries of what architecture and urbanism can do and be.
Urban Projects Bureau intervenes in processes of social, political and urban change through research, teaching, spatial strategy and design. Our approach is strategic in nature and specific in focus: we believe in constructing spaces as a way of generating change. We have a breadth of experience and knowledge in architecture and urbanism, and have undertaken projects in the UK, Europe, Asia, South America and South Africa, and have worked with leading international political agencies and cultural institutions.
Our studio is structured into three main specialism’s: UPB Projects, UPB Research, and UPB Actions, which work independently and collaboratively as part of our combined practice. We work across a range of scales and sectors, and apply our analytical thinking and design expertise to public and private projects of varying sizes and types – from social housing to exhibitions and interiors, from regional development strategies to the design of civic spaces. Key to our work is an interest in the ways in which spaces are inhabited and used, and a commitment to the public realm as a place of social exchange and political activity.
Urban Projects Bureau work with urban processes that shape the city and its institutions, and operate as a think tank to develop critical frameworks through which to re-think existing challenges and envision alternative urban models. Extending the potential of urbanism as a discipline, we collaborate with government bodies, NGO’s, social agencies, and public organisations to apply design-thinking to complex urban situations, political and institutional affairs. UPB was selected to exhibit in the British Pavilion in the 13th Venice Architecture Biennale 2012, and was included in the Guardian portrait of key players in British Architecture 2012.
People
Paolo Pisano, Project Lead
Nicola Barrington-Leach, Architect
Awards
- RIBA, 2016, The Bradford Block, Graveney School
- RIBA, 2016, The Bradford Block, Graveney School
- Open House London, 2016, The Bradford Block, Graveney School
- Wandsworth Design Award, 2015, The Bradford Block, Graveney School
- International Urban Design Competition, 2015
- AJ, 2014, A Hard Working House
- Open House London, 2014, A Hard Working House
- Open House London, 2014, The Bradford Block, Graveney School
- Forgotten Spaces, 2013
- Venice Biennale, 2012
Clients
- Arts Council England
- ARUP
- Aylesbury Grammar School
- Bouygues Group
- Cambridgeshire County Council
- Churchman Thornhill Finch Landscape Architects
- Croydon Council
- Cut + Grind Burgers
- Enfield Council
- Enfield Council
- Graveney School
- Homes & Communities Agency
- Newham Council
- Nine Elms Vauxhall Partnership
- Private
- RIBA
- The Architectural Association
- The Brick Box
- The British Council
- UN Habitat
- Urbanism and the Informal Research Cluster, AA
- Wandsworth Arts Festival
- Zelena Akeija – Green Action Croatia
Collaborators
- 5th Studio
- AA Architectural Association
- Arup
- NEF Consulting
- Periscope Studio
- Polimekanos
- Urban Space Management
Publications
- Alex Warnock-Smith, ‘#42: Medellin escapes grip of drug lord to embrace radical urbanism’, in: The Guardian: Stories of Cities (The Guardian, 2019) Download
- ‘Graveney Sixth Form’, in: 100 Projects UK CLT (Waugh Thistleton Architects, London, 2018), pp.150–151 Download
- ‘Urban Projects Bureau’, in: New Architects 3, issue ISBN-10: 185894645X (Merrell Publishers Ltd / The Architecture Foundation, London, 2016), pp.292–293
- Alex Warnock-Smith, ‘Cities For Life: World Urban Forum 2014’, in: The Architectural Review (Emap Publishing Limited, 2014) Download
- Alex Warnock-Smith, ‘The Urban Economy - Future Cities’, in: The Times Newspaper, issue NO. 70320 (Raconteur Media, 2011) Download
- ‘London +10’, in: London +10, issue ISBN 978-1-902902-83-8 (AA Publications, 2010) Download
- ‘Catalogue of the 13th Venice Architecture Biennale’, in: Venice Takeway: Ideas To Change British Architecture, issue ISBN 978-1-907896-24-8 (AA Publications, ) Download
- ‘Visions and Urban Design Strategies for Nangang, Taipei’, in: The Innovative Region and Creative City, issue ISBN 978-986-02-5290-3 (National Chiao Tung University, ) Download
- Transforming Cities - Design in the Favelas of Rio De Janeiro, issue ISBN 1 902902 22 -X (AA Publications and The British Council, ) Download