ATOMIK ARCHITECTURE - Key Persons
Derek Draper has been drawing and making for as long as he can remember: Airfix models as a child, holiday jobs as an apprentice carpenter and, on leaving school at sixteen, training in welding and metal fabrication. It was a chance conversation in the local pub that prompted him to join Abbey Holford Rowe Architects (later Aedas) as a junior technician.
Thrown in at the deep end, he not only found himself developing his technical understanding of materials, but also borrowing books to feed his growing interest in architectural design. As a result, after moving to Aedas' London office, he began a part-time degree at the University of Greenwich to qualify as an architect. This somewhat opportunistic route into the profession has helped to define not just Derek's approach, but also that of the practice. It begins with at an elemental level with his understanding of material characteristics and site and procurement specifics. This, along with an instinctive interest in how people inhabit space, gives his finished buildings a sense of inevitability - as well as articulating the opportunity special to any site.
No matter the project type, Derek's consuming interest in technique almost always sees him modelling a design in digital or physical space - and he is rarely found without his sketchbook.
Biography
Derek began his professional career working as a technician, and completed his degree in architecture in 2008, studying part-time at the University of Greenwich in parallel to his work at Aedas. He completed his diploma with distinction in 2011 and Part III in 2012, both at Greenwich.
During his ten years with Aedas, a 1,400-strong organisation working from fifteen different offices, Derek worked on a vast range of projects, delivered through a variety of procurement routes and often involving an extended programme of work over several years. This big-practice experience both contrasts with, and informs, his eventual move into smaller, more collaborative design studios: first to Collectif NineteenEightyOne and now Atomik. His career highlights reflect this ability to work at differing scales, and include a five-year project to evolve the Holland Park School estate, £300 million office towers in Abu Dhabi and, more recently the installation It's not who you are, it's how you are at the BALTIC gallery in Gateshead.
During his studies at the University of Greenwich Derek received a number of awards, including two nominations for the RIBA President's Silver Medal. He is a regular contributor to Article 25's annual 10×10 Drawing the City charity initiative and has been selected as a finalist for several drawing prizes, including Architects Eye and the AJ Habitation Drawing Prize. He was selected as an RIBA Rising Star in 2019.
Job Titles:
- Director
- Member of the Hackney Design Review Panel
Growing up in his parents' holiday camp on the Lincolnshire coast, Mike Oades developed a strong affinity for the temporary and the nostalgic, and narratives of time and legacy have run through his work ever since. His two years, post-degree, in rapidly-changing Berlin during the early 1990s were his introduction to ‘real architecture'. With German architects tending to take on a much broader role than their UK counterparts, he gained a valuable insight into the complexities of the building process beyond the drawing board - and also used the opportunity as a lens to reflect on design culture back at home. Despite returning to follow a reasonably traditional route to qualification, Mike's ability to take a lateral view has since become a fundamental part of Atomik's ethos, with the varying geographies of the team regularly exploited to get a broader perspective on architectural ideas. During his diploma course at the Bartlett, the highly competitive environment convinced him of the need for architects to communicate their work in a more accessible way, and this again has informed the Atomik approach, in which client relationships are nurtured so that every project becomes a collective adventure, and design through drawing is instinctive.
Biography
Mike completed his degree in architecture at the Kent Institute of Art and Design in Canterbury in 1992, before moving to Berlin for two years of practical experience. On his return in 1994, he began his Part II diploma at the Bartlett School of Architecture in London, and completed his Part III at London Metropolitan University in 2000.
Mike's portfolio not only covers a broad spectrum of building typologies, but also a wide range of working environments - from large, high-profile corporate studios such as Foster & Partners and Aedas, to smaller collaborative offices like Ushida Findlay and, of course, Atomik. As a result he is fluent in all stages of the architectural process - development, design, detailing and delivery. Career highlights range from the installation It's not who you are, it's how you are at the BALTIC gallery in Gateshead to the Stirling Prize-shortlisted McLaren Formula One HQ, and the £300 million Al Bahar office towers in Abu Dhabi, which won the Council for Tall Buildings and Urban Habitats (CTBUH) inaugural innovation award in 2012.
Mike is a member of the Hackney Design Review Panel and is a regular contributor to Article 25's annual 10×10 Drawing the City charity initiative. He has been a visiting critic at several universities in the UK and Germany, and has spoken at a number of debates on urban design and regeneration issues. In 2012 Mike delivered a talk on the architecture of Astana for a TEDxAstana.
From an early age, Sophie McCarthy was designing and building elaborate houses and cities for her three sisters, using whatever she could get her hands on: video boxes, wooden blocks, Duplo and card. Being an architect is all she has ever really wanted to do, for the diverse circle of collaborators, the huge variety of project types and challenges, and the satisfaction of seeing someone - even her sisters - thrive in a space that she has created for them. For her, the broad-ranging, problem-solving role of architect is vital to the business of construction, and one to be celebrated. Having led her own all-female studio for several years, she exemplifies - and is empowered by - Atomik's attitude that values the person rather than their gender.
While every project demands a different approach, sketching and modelmaking remain central to Sophie's design process as tools for exploring materiality, light and space. Reflecting the wider practice, she is intentionally a non-specialist specialist, preferring to work with consistent care and attention across a wide range of scales and typologies. She finds the invisible, meticulous detailing, which most people might not notice, but which brings together anything from a piece of furniture to a large-scale façade system, deeply satisfying.
Biography
Sophie studied at the Mackintosh School of Architecture at Glasgow School of Art, graduating with distinction in 2005 and subsequently completing her Masters of Architecture.
She then worked on cultural and heritage projects at practices in Glasgow and Edinburgh, before moving to London in 2007 to lead larger schemes in Europe and the Middle East. Sophie set up her own award winning practice - Kirkwood McCarthy - in 2013. Her portfolio covers residential, hospitality, hotels, museums and office projects at many different scales, and in widely varying contexts. This experience, working in practices large and small, and for herself as a practice founder, means she is skilled at all levels of project delivery, and is particularly suited to working across Atomik's broad range of project types.