BA(Hons)

Alfie is a Part 1 Architectural Assistant who focuses his design strategy upon Social Value. He strives to provide design and consideration in our built environment for the under- and mis-represented sectors and demographics within our society. He believes that if form follows function, then function follows people; and that individuals, community and culture are centrefold within an industry that is calling for more progressive architecture for the people it will cater for.

Both his dissertation and final design module projects separately addressed the demonized perceptions of UK housing estates based upon their inhabitants rather than their architecture, along with commanding solutions to address this.

Alfie graduated from the Oxford School of Architecture (OBU) in 2023 with First Class Honours, having received nominations for 8 student prizes, including a shortlist for the RIBA Bronze Medal.

Dipl Ing Arch RIBA
Barbara is a founding director of Erect Architecture and an RIBA Chartered and ARB registered architect with 15 years professional experience in the UK and 20 years in total. Barbara enjoys the capacity of small practice to be agile, innovate and experiment and thrives on creating places that are positive drivers for change. She is experienced in leading teams and working with complex client, stakeholder and user groups to deliver architectural and public realm projects. Barbara is a member of the Camden Design and the Croydon Place Review Panel.

Barbara’s wish to support small, creative practice has led her to join the RIBA Small Practice Panel, which she chairs since 2018. There she co-organises the annual Guerrilla Tactics conference, focusing on innovation and business skills for young and small architecture practices.

Before moving to London in 2002 Barbara lived and worked in Los Angeles, Berlin and Vienna. She studied Architecture and Urban Planning at the University of the Arts Berlin and the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna.

BA(Hons) MArch ARB
Ming is passionate about making cities more equitable, for all ages.  She studied at Edinburgh School of Architecture & Landscape Architecture and completed her Masters of Architecture at the Royal College of Art. She has led on public realm design, strategy and research as well as delivering community focused projects often in heritage settings that enhance health and wellbeing for all.

She led the team that won the Unlimited Doha Design Prize with their proposal “City of Play” looking at developing strategies for creating open-ended street furniture and layouts that could allow for play in the public realm, as well as how these might help create safer streets for both women and children. She has also been an education facilitator for institutions such as RIBA, RA, V&A and Barbican. 

She is currently leading on a range of projects for Erect including the refurbishment of Quadrant House, offices in Caterham, the public realm improvements to Arras Square in Ipswich and a Best Play Study.

BA(Hons) MArch
During his first year of his masters at the LSA, Elliott worked part time at Erect and found great inspiration from the scale and style of their projects. Returning post graduation, he is currently designing bespoke play structures and an adventure playground, alongside other architecture and landscape projects.

Elliott is passionate about wellbeing and design to engage the whole body. He is interested in material lifecycles and the circular economy model. At the LSA, Elliott's thesis explored material reuse whilst transforming Abbey Mills Pumping Station site into a public park. He studied his BA at the Manchester School of Architecture where he focused on alternative healthcare.

Elliott loves design and making in many forms. Beyond architecture, he is currently learning to make clothes and soft furnishings.

Federica is a qualified architect and urban designer with a strong commitment to integrating social value into all her designs and experiences. She values the input of all users in shaping design outcomes and actively fosters this interaction across projects and scales. Federica is particularly interested in how public and private spaces blend together and how the design of the public realm influences the integration of diverse communities and individuals in urban environments.

Federica has been working in London since 2017 on a variety of projects and scales. Before relocating to London, she gained experience in the West Bank and Italy. Her work encompassed landscape, urban, and planning strategies, co-designing public realm projects, mixed-use and housing schemes, and bespoke housing restoration and refurbishment. Additionally, Federica collaborates with the University of Bologna and Italian Local Authorities, mapping assets confiscated from organised crime and designing strategies for their social and strategic reuse.

She completed her Master's in Architecture in Ferrara after an exchange period at KU Leuven and a Master's in Urban Design from The Bartlett, UCL. She also holds a multidisciplinary Professional Master’s Diploma from the University of Bologna.

BA(Hons)
Matthew is Studio Manager, he has a background in photography and architectural visualisation having worked in the field for the past decade. During this time he worked on and produced backplate photography for the viualisation of landmark London schemes such as the Pedestrianisation of Oxford Street and The Illuminated River Project.

Matthew studied photography at UCA Farnham graduating in 2011, he has exhibited architectural photographic projects at various locations across London, namely “Every Building on the Old Kent Road" and “Post-War Craft”.  Matthew has a keen interest in post war housing, the ever changing landscape of London and exploration of the city through walking.

Away from the office Matthew enjoys gardening having designed and built his own garden and has recently taken up tennis again after a few years away from the sport.

BA(Hons) AADip
Nick is an experienced public realm designer. He is currently leading the transformations Erith Riverside Gardens in Bexley and a High Street in Barnet.

Nick is a member of the Brent Quality Review Panel.

Passionate about teaching and research, Nick is part of the Erect Architecture team co-leading a Design Think Tank at the London School of Architecture alongside Allies and Morrison. The unit is currently exploring how buildings and public spaces can allow for ‘aging well’ in our cities.

Nick studied at Oxford Brookes University and the Architectural Association graduating in 2014. He was the 2018 Arts and Culture Fellow at the University of Exeter, undertaking research on spaces of learning and their effect on faculty collaboration. He co-authored the paper Nurturing innovation and creativity in educational practice which was published in the International Journal of Higher Education Research in 2019.

Sami is a Part 1 Architectural Assistant with a deep admiration for the diverse cultures and communities that flourish within urban landscapes. She is passionate about storytelling and creating projects that are both imaginative yet meaningful.

Her undergraduate experience at Oxford Brookes University ignited her interest in advocating for minority communities in the UK. She showcased her research on community focused architecture at the annual ACERT conference, demonstrating her commitment to inclusive design.

Sami is also deeply invested in wildlife conservation, contributing to the efforts of Wildlife Sense in Kefalonia to protect sea turtles. Additionally, she has started tutoring RIBA Foundation students, sharing her knowledge and inspiring fellow designers.

Outside of her professional pursuits, Sami finds solace and inspiration in playing the cello, both as a performer and as a dedicated member of an orchestra.

DipArch MSc RIBA
Susanne is a director and founding member of Erect Architecture. She is a registered architect and RIBA member with over 20 years professional experience, delivering architecture and public realm projects for complex stakeholder and user groups. She is a member of the Hackney, Havering and Lambeth Design Quality Review Panels as well as an acting Quinquennial Inspector for the Diocese of London.

Together with Nick, Susanne leads a Design Think Tank at the London School of Architecture. She is a visiting critic at several architecture schools, practice mentor at the LSA and tutors during the annual summer school ‘Studio in the Woods’. Susanne holds a Master in Architectural History from University College London. Keen to combine architecture and research, particularly related to Health and Wellbeing, she lead the NHS funded award-winning pilot project Camden Active Spaces for Erect.