Hugh Cullum Architects was founded in 1999 and has developed into a coherent team with broad collective expertise.
The practice specialises in building in sensitive contexts and we has a reputation for considered and innovative design. Our approach to each project is unique and depends on a thorough analysis of a building’s setting in relation to the brief.
Successful building should be a partnership between client, architects, and builder. In this respect, we believe that our skills as practitioners, thinkers, and teachers give us a unique strength to make the most of this joint opportunity.
“The work shows a remarkable architectural intelligence that renders materials emotionally communicative….
it is is quirky, charming, individual, eclectic, kinetic, surprising, Picturesque, characterful, subtle, and humanising… demonstrating an enduring concern to treat each place on its own merit.”
Charles Rattray – architectural critic and journalist
Hugh Cullum PhD (Cantab) RIBA SCA
Principal
Hugh trained at Cambridge and went on to do a Ph.D. in architectural history before setting up Cullum and Nightingale in 1986. In 1998 Hugh was awarded a fellowship at the Canadian Centre for Architecture in Montreal to write a book on Northern Italian Baroque architecture. On his return to England he set up Hugh Cullum Architects. He has continued to be involved in teaching and research as well as acting as architectural advisor or senior assessor to a number of RIBA-led competitions. He is co-chair of the Bloomsbury Conservation Area Advisory Committee, a member of the Ecclesiastical Architects and Surveyors Association and has been elected a Brother of the Art Workers Guild. In 2013 he was added to the RIBA register of Specialist Conservation Architects.
Giles Woodcock DipArch
Director
Giles joined the practice in 2014 and became a director in 2016. He has varied experience on a range of commercial and residential projects with an emphasis on sensitive interventions to historic and listed buildings. He trained at Glasgow’s Mackintosh School of Architecture and his research interests include the planning, design and construction of contemporary buildings in the context of existing or historic fabric.
Tobias Schneider Dipl Ing Architect ARB
Director
Tobias studied at the TU in Munich and the TU Delft before moving to the UK, where he has gained 12 years experience of working on a wide range of commercial and residential projects, with a particular emphasis on listed buildings. He joined the practice in 2018 and became a director in 2019.
Christine de Beer MArch
Architectural Designer
Christine joined Hugh Cullum Architects in July 2019. She previously worked primarily on heritage projects in South Africa, both on graded buildings and new builds within conservation areas, which is where her interest in working with sensitive sites developed. Prior to this she also gained experience working on medium scale mixed use buildings, residential projects and schools.
Christine graduated from the University of Cape Town. Her master’s dissertation recognised the residual space created by highways, as an opportunity to stitch together the fractured form of the post-apartheid South African City. She completed her Part III at the Bartlett in Bloomsbury.
Jo Holden
Administrator
Jo joined the practice in July 2022 as part-time administrator from a background as a personal assistant and administrator in arts based companies.
Christiane Ten-Hoopen MA PhD
Director
Christiane Ten-Hoopen has had responsibility for the office finances since 1999. In 2006 she established Bloomsbury Design (click here for BD website), the art gallery that fronts the HCA office premises where artists and designers can exhibit their works. She is also a musician and musicologist.
Anastasia Rosca
Architectural Designer
Anastasia joined Hugh Cullum Architects in 2021. Previously she gained her experience working at various London practices, specialising in commercial and high end residentatial projects. She managed projects from begining to completion overseeing the design process in detail, including interior design with emphasis on creating bespoke items. Anastasia graduated from Ion Mincu University in Bucharest. During her studies she has always focused on the socio-cultural dimension of her projects and was interested in how to build for disadvantaged communities by involving the inhabitants in the process. Her projects focuse on the urban regeneration of historical parts of Bucharest that have suffered from years of neglect by the local authorities. In 2020, Anastasia gained her Part 3 degree from Westminster University, London.
Owen Ward IHBC(Affiliate)
Architectural Designer
Owen joined the practice in 2021 as an architectural designer and conservation specialist. He is co-chair of the Bloomsbury Conservation Areas Advisory Committee and works with other conservation and planning associations, including the Seven Dials Trust. Owen has an interest in international heritage and architecture and has worked on UNESCO tentative list world heritage sites in India. He is an affiliate member of the Institute of Historic Building Conservation and is studying for an MSc at the Institute of Sustainable Heritage at UCL.
William Adams MArch RIBA RIAI
Architect
William gained his Masters degree at the University of Dundee, specialising in urban theory, and subsequently completed his architectural training in London. He has worked in public and private sector practices in Dublin, New York and the Netherlands, most recently focusing on high-end residential projects in Central London, working at award-winning practices Barbara Weiss Architects and latterly Rodić Davidson Architects, where he was an associate. William has particular experience working with listed buildings and has led numerous projects in complex regulatory settings, including several of London’s Great Estates. He has been a member of the Bloomsbury Conservation Area Advisory Committee since 2015, and is currently undertaking an MSt in Building History at the University of Cambridge.