About Us
SJW Architects is a design-led practice working across London, Sheffield and the Peak District, with particular experience in existing buildings and sensitive contexts.
We create architecture shaped by place, use and careful consideration of how spaces are inhabited over time.
As a small practice, we work closely with our clients from early ideas through to planning and delivery.
Our approach begins with a close reading of place, brief and daily use. Layouts and finishes are informed by the character of the building, its setting and the rhythm of the everyday.
We place a strong emphasis on proportion, materiality and detail, with interiors developed alongside the architecture to create coherent, cohesive spaces made for living.
Our Team
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Susi Wellings is an architect with over 25 years’ post-qualification experience, leading complex, design-led projects across the public and private sectors.
Before founding SJW Architects, she was an Associate at Rogers, Stirk, Harbour & Partners, where she worked for eight years on the British Museum’s World Conservation and Exhibitions Centre, and a Project Architect at Wilkinson Eyre Architects on a major riverside development for the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
Alongside large-scale cultural projects, Susi has extensive experience in high-end private residential work, having acted as Project Architect on multiple refurbishment projects in West London. Her background also includes international humanitarian work, leading post-tsunami reconstruction projects in Sri Lanka, recognised by the Aga Khan Awards and the Observer Ethical Awards.
Susi trained at the Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL, where she received distinctions for both design and technical work and was awarded the Sir Andrew Taylor Prize for best technical dissertation.
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Camilla grew up with a ceramics studio in her house and has continued to surrounded herself with craft and design since. After gaining a first-class degree in Art History from UCL, she worked as a gallery curator before establishing her own homewares business specialising in illustrated ceramics and textiles, stocked in Liberty’s of London.
Her interiors focus on honest materials, considered colour combinations and texture. Detail and craftsmanship are central to her designs.
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Fred joined SJW Architects after completing his MArch at the Iceland University of the Arts, following a BArch from Loughborough University.
He is a creatively driven architect with a background in the arts, drawn to architecture as a medium that connects the two disciplines. His work aims to challenge conventions by blurring the boundaries between art and architecture, imagination and built reality. He has a strong passion for temporary and small-scale architecture, as well as immersive, experiential projects that encourage curiosity and evoke an emotional response.
With experience spanning architectural projects, exhibition curation, and work within the fashion industry, Fred brings a multidisciplinary outlook and a strong conceptual approach to the studio.
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Olivia studied Architecture at the University of Sheffield, where she developed a critical understanding of environmental and societal issues, alongside a strong appreciation for material honesty. Inspired by figures such as William Morris and John Ruskin, she believes in crafting beautiful buildings where structure and materials are celebrated rather than concealed.
At SJW Architects, Olivia brings her enthusiasm for considered, detailed, sustainable design. She enjoys exploring how buildings can respond sensitively to their context while maintaining a strong architectural character - to create meaningful spaces that stand the test of time.
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After graduating in Architecture from the University of Edinburgh, Dan was awarded the Andrew Grant Postgraduate Scholarship to study a masters course, specialising in craft and digital material design. He has since worked in architecture and design roles in Edinburgh, Sheffield and London.
Dan is also a keen photographer and uses his compositional skills to create 3D models and architectural visualisations.
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15 April 1966 - 21 February 2023
It was an honour and a joy having you at SJW Architects.
HAPPY THE MAN
Happy the man, and happy he alone,
He who can call today his own:
He who, secure within, can say,
Tomorrow do thy worst, for I have lived today.
Be fair or foul or rain or shine
The joys I have possessed, in spite of fate, are mine.
Not Heaven itself upon the past has power,
But what has been, has been, and I have had my hour.John Dryden
From Our Clients
“SJW Architects were a dream to work with… meticulous in every detail and incredibly knowledgeable as well as approachable. We couldn’t be happier with the result.”
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“When you are trying to make the most of a smallish space, good design is everything… exceptional communication, tenacious quality control and solutions that made all the difference.”
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“Susi and her team worked hard to get to grips with our brief, delivered creative and stylish design solutions, and completed the project on time and to budget.”
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