Exterior · Expertise
Architectural Metalwork
When the metalwork is the architecture.
Elements that stop being an addition to the architecture and start being part of it — columns, canopies, frameworks and the details that hold a scheme together.
Some elements in a building cannot be bought. A canopy that has to span a bar without a visible support. A column casing that must read as one continuous polished surface from floor to soffit. A framework that carries lighting, services and a design idea at the same time.
These are the pieces we are usually called in for. They start as a drawing or a reference and become a set of engineered components — sections sized, joints resolved, fixings designed, sequence of installation planned — before a single sheet is cut.
Because the design development, the CNC fabrication, the welding and the finishing all happen in one workshop, the joint that was agreed on paper is the joint that arrives on site.
Structure first, then the surface
The mistake that costs most on a feature structure is choosing the form before the frame. A sculptural column casing, a canopy that appears to float, a reception element with no visible support: each is a piece of engineering wearing a piece of design, and the engineering has to be settled first — what carries the weight, where it goes into the building, how it moves with temperature — before the surface is drawn.
Done in that order, the structure disappears and the form is what people see. Done the other way round, the supports arrive as an afterthought and the form spends its life apologising for them.
Where it is used
- Feature structures and freestanding architectural elements
- Column casings and structural cladding
- Canopies, porte-cochères and entrance frameworks
- Metal frameworks carrying lighting and services
- Reception and lobby feature elements
- Pergolas, trellises and garden structures
- Special architectural details drawn for one project
Photographs
Architectural metalwork we have made
From the workshop and from finished interiors. Click a picture to see it larger.
Questions & answers
Questions about architectural metalwork
What drawings do you need to start a feature structure?
Whatever exists: an architect’s concept, a sketch, a reference photograph. The first thing produced from it is a structural drawing — what carries the weight and how it fixes to the building — and the surface is drawn onto that. If the concept has no structure yet, that is the first conversation, not a problem.
Can a feature element stand on its own, or must it fix to the building?
Either, and the choice changes the piece. A freestanding element needs its own base and enough weight or footprint to be stable, which shapes it. One fixed back to the structure can be lighter and more open, but the fixing has to be agreed with whoever owns that wall or slab. Deciding this first saves redrawing the whole thing.
More exterior work
Often specified together
Start a project
Have something extraordinary in mind?
Send a drawing, a sketch, or a photograph of something close to it. We will tell you what is buildable, what it costs and how long it takes.