‘Public Building Architect of the Year’ – BD Architect Awards 2022
A team of architects, interior designers and new-enterprise strategists, founded by Katy Marks in 2013.
We collaborate with inspired, forward-thinking organisations and individuals to make extraordinary things happen, distilling complex briefs to create spaces with functional clarity, woven with ingenuity and delight.
Our buildings, spaces and ideas are made to be used, lived in and loved, with a delicate balance of crafted beauty and rigorous practicality. From the biggest gestures to the tiniest details, the ethos, intelligence and wit of the people we work with runs through the grain of everything we do.
Our portfolio is diverse, including complex conservation of listed buildings, museums, performing arts centres, cultural and community venues, community-led housing, from high-end to shoestring budgets and everything in between. Always distinctive and full of character; the spaces we create become well loved and embedded within communities, fulfilling their purpose while making people smile.
Our approach
We believe that effective design comes from actively tapping into the culture and ethos of the communities we work with through engagement with the people that will use our buildings and spaces every day.
We are an agile team, able to be nimble and immersively engaged so there is no Citizens Design Bureau ‘house style’. Instead we take every project afresh, putting active, collaborative and inclusive experimentation, testing and modelling at the heart of our process. This might involve creating full-scale mock-ups, and inviting community members, staff, and users to engage in the process in ways that enhance the design. We interrogate briefs, looking for opportunities that could be transformative to the way standard typologies work, and ensure a deep understanding of financial viability is embedded in our thinking at every stage.
Our services
In every role we perform, our aim is to make good design accessible, rich in personality and sensitively sustainable.
Although we typically act as architects, design-team leaders and contract administrators, we have the experience and skillset to adapt to different roles depending on the needs of the project. We often serve as interior designers, community-engagement facilitators, and new-enterprise strategists in collaboration with large consultant teams – for example, developing financial models for community and retail spaces within new housing masterplans. We can offer strategic advice on developing briefs, run viability and operational studies for community enterprises and charities, and host one-off idea surgeries or collaborative design sessions.
We believe that holistic responses to the climate crisis should be a prerequisite in all architecture today. An ecological sensibility therefore runs through our design thinking, underpinned by rigorous research and learning through detailed post-occupancy analysis of our buildings. Ultimately sustainability is about far more than the size of your solar panel array. We hold sustainability of energy and resources alongside sustainability of function, finance and cultural relevance at the heart of our thinking. We make buildings that last because they are loved.
Selected awards
Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) National Award 2023 : Manchester Jewish Museum
RIBA North West Project Architect of the Year 2023 : Katy Marks
Civic Trust Award 2023 : Jacksons Lane Theatre
Building Design UK Public Building Architect of the Year : 2022
Civic Trust Award 2022 : Manchester Jewish Museum
Architects Journal Awards 2022 commendation : St Peter’s Church renovation
British Construction Industry Awards 2021 : Best Cultural Building award and overall award for Best Building under £10m
Facade Award Winner : 2021
World Interiors Awards 2015 : Best Bar international award
World Interiors Awards 2015 : Best bar in a leisure and entertainment venue
RIBA Stirling prize 2014 : as part of a team with Haworth Tompkins Architects for the Everyman Theatre in Liverpool. (Director Katy Marks was project Architect at Haworth Tompkins before setting up Citizens Design Bureau, who were commissioned to design interior furniture, finishes and signage for the building)
