The 100 Top Creatives 2021: 6a Architects

One hundred creatives with a thousand facets: AD introduces you to the top 100 creatives. Among them are Stephanie Macdonald and Tom Emerson from 6a Architects in London. They think, "We need a lot more studios run by women!"

The name 6a goes back to the studio's first address on London's Hall Street. In the meantime, it has become 40, but the many galleries (most recently in the British cradle of modernism, Milton Keynes) and studios (for Juergen Teller, among others), residences and schools of the architect couple cannot be easily measured in numbers anyway. What Stephanie Macdonald and Tom Emerson have mastered like no other is the keyboard of building between historic neighbors: subtle and sensitive, self-confident and clear, but never too loud.

The outer shell of the MK Gallery in Milton Keynes is made of sheet steel. The new building by 6a Architects completes the ensemble designed by Andrzej Blonski and Michael Heard.

The circular window functions equally as an opening to the outside and the inside.

Dreamers, doers, icons: AD presents the 100 most important creatives in 2021. We asked what they dream of, what inspires them, what they regret. And we show what they are doing to enrich our lives, despite everything. Our questions were answered by Stephanie Macdonald.

I can recognize successful design by ...

... that I can read its stories in its smallest details as well as the big picture.

If I hadn't become an architect ...

... then probably an artist, and if I may dream quite freely: dancer!

My dearest possession ...

... is a painting by Victoria Morton - so dense and full of wild colors, and at the same time almost spherical in its spatial conception.

My best mistake ...

... was to adopt the design of a community center.

What I would like to invent ...

is an argument, convincing to really everyone, that in a uniform wage would lie the best way to a just, creative, meaningful and contented society.

For dinner I would like to meet ...

... Lina Bo Bardi, whose community center Sesc Pompeia in Sao Paulo was so far ahead of its time - just like her theater or her own home: a brilliant mix of materiality, audacity and informality, plus this meticulous observation of local culture and habits in every way.

My home is ...

... my freedom - we live in our old studio that ducks between and behind big Georgian houses. We've dug up the old asphalt yard and put in trees, and roses and honeysuckle, jasmine and ivy entwine the fire escapes. Everything, even inside, is full of plants, so we have skylights everywhere, too. Our friend and long-time partner Dan Pearson is behind the planting concept and has managed to make everything grow and thrive even in the most impossible places.

Ei8 Colors That Will Transform Your Home