REGISTER - MATHESON WHITELEY

In this episode we are joined by Donald Matheson and Jason Whiteley. They set up their practice in London in 2012, after some years working for Tony Fretton and Herzog & deMeuron. Theirs is an architecture of minimal means. They have a careful eye for latent possibilities in the fabric where they work, and many of their projects find their language in these observations. They build on these with typological references and an unsentimental engagement with the realities of contemporary construction. Refreshingly they welcome budget negotiations as a means to engage with reality. In this there is no reduction of ambition, but rather a refinement of how it is manifest. There is a delightful directness from the work that results with the plans in particular worked to a high level of refinement. Underlying this there is an incipient figuration - with structural elements or the facade arranged not in the search of being fully background, but rather to possess an unpretentious presence. Our conversation covered a lot of ground, most particularly teaching, and the value of teaching to both student and tutor. http://www.mathesonwhiteley.com Credits: Register is brought to you by the Department of Architecture & Landscape at Kingston University. fada.kingston.ac.uk/al/ Head of Department: Eleanor Suess Register Editor: Timothy Smith Interviewer: Andrew Clancy Audio: Justin Howard