Firm name: Caukin Studio
Location: London, U.K.
Year founded: 2015
Firm leadership: Harry Thorpe, Joshua Peasley, Harrison Marshall
How founders met: Studied architecture together at Cardiff University
Firm size: Three full time, 15+ part time/seasonal
Origin of firm name: The name Caukin comes from our different countries of origin: Canada, the United Kingdom, and Indonesia. We wanted a name that represented our international roots as well as our international ambitions. From day one we knew that we wanted to design and build projects all over the world, challenging ourselves in new and diverse climates and contexts. Researching and experiencing unfamiliar places is at the heart of what we do; it enables us to work on ambitious and exciting projects while facilitating lifelong friendships and cultural exchanges along the way.
Firm mission: Democratic education and quality design, accessible for all. We believe that every human being should have the opportunity and tools to shape the spaces they inhabit. We should all benefit from the quality of life that is achieved through informed design.
First commission: We began working together as a collective while studying for our bachelor’s degrees in architecture at Cardiff. We were a group of enthusiastic second-year students who wanted to gain a different type of experience, putting some of our education to good use. We contacted countless NGOs and charities around the world, seeking opportunities to engage with their missions through a design-build project. Despite being so young and with very limited experience, we were fortunate enough to come across a charity called Friends of Koh Rong, which had set up a school on a small island in Cambodia. The island, Koh Rong, had started to become a tourist destination, and with that came negative impacts on the local community, such as exposure to alcohol and drug use.
Working closely with the NGO, we designed and built our first project, Playscape: a play and learning space that provides a safe haven for children to spend time together. Over the six-week construction period, we realized the immense value of working with local communities and the knowledge exchange that takes place both on and off site. Over the following three years at university, we continued to develop the studio and complete projects each summer, before taking the leap to go full time–increasing our impact across the areas of international development, education, collaboration, women in construction, and more.
Favorite project and why: The Ranwas School, completed last year in Vanuatu. An NGO called the Tanbok Project approached us with an interesting and challenging brief: to design and build a classroom and library space that could withstand cyclone winds and protect the books stored within from extreme humidity. Not only did we need to fulfill these complex issues through passive design strategies, we needed to do so in a way that used only the materials and construction skills available in the local community. Fortunately, we had already amassed the relevant experience and network of design specialists to take the project on, resulting in an extremely rewarding and successful outcome.
What really made the project special was the unwavering dedication and passion of the local community. We would often find ourselves with over 50 villagers on site, eager to lend their knowledge and learn something new. With so many helping hands we were able to refine many extra details, increase the build quality, and incorporate traditional local techniques. The outcome reflects all those involved in the project and symbolizes the two months we spent living and working with the community.
Last April, six months after its completion, Vanuatu was hit by a category five cyclone, which was an enormous test both for the building and for the people. We were relieved that the building survived the storm undamaged and believe that it emphasizes the importance of "building back better."
Another favorite project and why: The Evergreen School built in Zambia last year. It is our largest build to date and was the first real opportunity for us to explore a different palette of materials, including brick, terracotta tiles, and steel. The project was carried out in partnership with Mothers of Africa, an NGO working to improve women's health, reduce maternal deaths, and improve education. The addition of four new classrooms and a teacher's office at the school lowered the average class size from 150 students down to 40. We strongly believe that a brighter, more spacious, secure, and beautiful learning environment will improve the enthusiasm, concentration, grades, and overall well-being of the students.
This project further supported our mission in breaking down prescribed gender roles within the construction industry. From the outset it was crucial that we had a strong female presence on site, with 50% of the core local team being female and 60% of the international team. With high unemployment rates in Zambia, it was important that this project also became a vehicle to teach workers new skills, thereby increasing their opportunities for future employment.
Biggest career leap: Our biggest leap was probably transitioning from designing three small-scale playgrounds with relatively small teams (in 2015 and 2016) to constructing our first two full buildings simultaneously in 2017. The buildings were a big step up in size and complexity, both practically and logistically. It was in 2017 that we distilled our business model, formalized the company, and defined our brand. Through this process we were able to bring on a much larger and more diverse team to work on each project and create a wider impact. Since then, we’ve completed five more buildings in the South Pacific, one of which was a direct response to a post-occupancy evaluation of our 2017 kindergarten build in Naweni, Fiji. One year after that project, the attendance had increased from eight to over 30, forcing the school to turn down prospective students. In 2019, we returned to Naweni to build a second classroom, increasing attendance to over 50 students.
Biggest design challenge the firm has overcome: Our projects present a range of challenges, including extremely remote locations, difficult climates, tight budgets, and limited site information and local material availability. Our aim is to design buildings which overcome these challenges in a creative and innovative way. Our Bula Batiki Coconut Oil Processing Facility in Fiji especially presented a complex design challenge. The site, on a tiny remote island, is accessible only on a 10-foot fiberglass boat, through a small gap in the reef. The entire list of construction materials had to come from the mainland on the monthly cargo ship and then be offloaded by hand at sea to the small boat. We could only specify materials at a maximum length of 14 feet and that didn't weigh too much. Combine this with cyclone winds, tight budgets, and a humid climate, and the design process felt quite restrictive.
What architects should be discussing now: The increasing variety of routes into practice, and alternative ways of doing architecture. Young architecture students and graduates are often funneled through a very rigid and prescribed path, with a step-by-step manual on how to become a "successful architect." It can lead to decades of work with very little creative freedom and limited opportunities to fulfill the aspirations of their younger selves. There is often a very visible ladder and hierarchy, with individual "architecture heroes" at the top, acting as the decision makers.
We love seeing new practices shift away from this approach and replace it with more collaborative and forward-thinking ones. There have been so many ingenious ways in which designers have created their own opportunities and subsequently broken out of the traditional route.
Biggest challenge in running a successful practice: We’ve definitely had our share of challenges over the last five years, which comes hand in hand with any start-up business. But we felt it especially since we were so young. As second-year architecture students, we had no real experience, no portfolio of work, no contacts, and no funding. Most of what we know now came from learning on the job as different challenges arose, and also getting advice from friends, which highlights the benefits of collaboration. Building trust in clients was difficult during the early years, which was frustrating but also understandable.
Now, with our current portfolio, we no longer have that barrier when approaching a potential collaborator. Instead, a new challenge has emerged. We’ve become well equipped and experienced within our niche of international humanitarian projects, but find that different types of opportunities don’t often come our way because of it. We are very much interested in widening the scope of our work, applying our various transferable skills to other areas of practice: art installations, large-scale projects, public engagement work, and international and local research projects.
