Our Work

Stephen Gardiner is a rara avis among architectural critics in that he actually designs and builds buildings as well as writing about other people's work.
Nicholas Jones - Building Design
 
The framework of colours was inspired by two main factors. First, the strong horizontal bands at first floor level are a throwback to late 19th century artisan terraces in Oxford (there are some similar terraces in Bradwell). Second, the vertical coloured bands which form margins arose naturally out of the approved limitations for lengths of rendering which state that no stretch of rendering should exceed 6 metres in length. 
This requirement suggested the introduction of a vertical margin with a movement joint for the rendering of its centreline. The margin also enabled downpipes to be incorporated as part of the design. The colour framework suited the craftsmen applying the pebbledash who simply broke off when they reached a limiting line. This device did away with the factor that has always spoilt pebbledash in past when there was never any limiting factor and blemishes occurred. The movement joint, moreover, allowed the introduction of different colours for the different houses, with the colour stopping on the movement joint. The architect points out that to use pebbledash properly, it is essential to have narrow rendered edges at window reveals and similar places, as they can turn the corners crisply. Inertol's acrylic paint was used for the margins.
Stephen Gardiner, working with his partner Joan Scotson, has demonstrated how it is possible to achieve a sense of place on a small scale in such a context, particularly in his housing at Great Linford. This is in the northern part of Milton Keynes, within walking distance of the village of Great Linford, on a lovely site which borders the Grand Union Canal. From across the water, the houses appear through the trees, now well matured, as long low two-storey buildings, black-boarded in the upper parts, cream pebbledashed in the lower. 
Associations with canal barges are thus clearly stated, and this waterside character is perhaps the most obviously attractive aspect of the scheme. But there are other equally successful features within. The housing is arranged in five block of 48 flats for two and three people, grouped around a serene inner court of trees and gravel - this last material an inspired choice for such a communal space, easy to maintain and lending a touch of urbanity to these otherwise rural canalside cottages. The elevations which face onto the inner court are balconied in the upper storey, the lower having the advantage of small gardens which are now matured and busy with plants, paving, washing, sun-mattresses and all the paraphernalia of living that are the marks of tenants who enjoy their homes. For this is rented accommodation, proving the point that with rented housing it depends what you give people as to how they treat it.
George Perkins - Concrete Quarterly
 
I recently took a look at two schemes which seem to me to embody some of the English domestic qualities that suit both our way of life and their particular sites. Both are by Stephen Gardiner, a London-based private architect who also writes about and teaches architecture. The housing at Great Linford, officially described as 'village infill' is by the canal. It has been finished long enough for the trees to have grown and the marvellous canalside landscaping to have matured.
Stephen Gardiner understands understatement: his houses, Great Linford in particular, are honourable successors to the English domestic tradition. With no fuss they show that his scale and this sort of simple housing is one of the things English architects understand best - at least some of the best architects do. What is good about this kind of architecture is that it provides a strong, simple framework to order the messy business of everyday life. Too often in the new towns this job has been played by the landscaping which is more thoughtful and effective than the domestic architecture.
Colin Amery - Financial Times
 
The planning of the development emphasises the canal, while the traditional construction techniques proposed for the two and three person housing units are in sympathy with the Edwardian High Street. The plan essentially forms a wide pedestrian avenue laid out along the axis of a manor house near by. The surroundings form a natural adventure playground for children and all existing and proposed pathways are incorporated into the overall circulation pattern. Vehicular interference with the site is minimised, garages are distributed carefully and living rooms in all the dwellings look out over the car-free central avenue.
Idris Walters - Building Design