Peter Culley is a UK architect, and leads a multi-disciplinary design studio Spatial Affairs Bureau in the UK and US.
Trained at the Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London – regularly rated as one of the world’s top architecture schools – Peter experienced a strong emphasis on ‘constructing’ aspects of student work in what he refers to as real materials, as opposed to representational-only work such as drawings and scaled architectural models. There, in making 1:1 installations and fabricating specific physical components, he began a journey that placed an importance on the true resolution of material combinations, and hierarchical decision-making based on project strategies and aesthetic direction. It was also at the Bartlett that the importance of projects having a deep narrative or raison d’être became so implicit in his work, hence his choice of words in Spatial Affairs Bureau.
In his early professional career, working first for international landscape architect Kathryn Gustafson and then UK-based Rick Mather, these notions were reinforced in built projects where both wider strategy and final detail were viewed with equal importance.
Moving into his own practice at Spatial Affairs Bureau, established in 2010, an emerging culture of product and furniture design has appeared almost as a bi-product of the diverse range of architectural commissions the studio has completed. For example in the Metropolitan Museum of Art plaza project, jumbo parasols, monolithic granite stone benches and automated ticket machines became key elements in Peter’s designs alongside more classic architectural components. For TBWA\Chiat\Day (Los Angeles) and Crosstown Arts (Memphis) in order to achieve unfettered creative directions for both projects without requiring high budgets for custom-made furniture, a series of designs were generated that could be made in-house at each organisation with an onsite workshop established for the purpose. Many of the private houses have generated unique kitchens and bathrooms with custom cabinetry, carefully chosen lighting and interesting material combinations.
In 2018, Peter decided to form Culley and Company specifically to make original one-off design elements available outside of traditional full-service architectural projects. Peter feels that the ability for a home-owner or institution to commission his experienced team for products, furniture and individual spaces in any environment should not only have to be as part of a total reconstruction undertaking, and should also be made available anywhere in the world.
For more information on Culley and Company, see our about section