Marcus Richards
To every architectural challenge Studio Basheva finds a human-centered solution, enhancing every aspect of people’s lives.
Tell us about yourself?
I come from family of engineers. From a very young age I expressed interest in buildings, and the built environment. I remember at age of three drawing an accurate depiction of the building of the nursery and astonishing the adults with its accuracy.
As I was growing up I became interested in history, art, science, maths, geometry, sociology and psychology. I find architecture is the one profession which encompasses all these subjects. For me, it is the ultimate creation of new forms of living.
We create space, flow, we direct the dynamics of the living and inhabiting space. It is a very important task with huge consequence if done wrong.
If you could go back in time a year or two, what piece of advice would you give yourself?
Don’t worry! Things work out better than we worry and overthink them.
What problem does your business solve?
We are passionate about design and architecture. Elegance and timelessness through refined choice of materials is in the heart of our design. Context of the project is paramount and is part of client’s brief – the response may be complimentary or contrasting. Last but not least, integration of the layers of complexity to achieve seamless design. We place a huge importance on originality mixed with intriguing environments, modern features and emerging finishes, materials and resources. Bespoke detail design has its own flair and ongoing challenges. Our practice will mix art, graphic and other creative solutions to support architectural design to answer the clients’ brief.
What is the inspiration behind your business?
We firmly believe that our work impacts on the lives of everyone living in the vicinity of the project, and as such we take our social responsibility very seriously in addition to our innovative architectural work. My experience has showed me the effect good design has on the dynamics of family life.
I would love to continue and deliver good design to more families. My ideal project is to deliver good quality design for more and designing and residential environment.
What is your magic sauce?
Our approach to staying ahead of our competitors is a simple one: we are passionate about introducing light into old and forgotten buildings. Elegance and timelessness through refined choice of materials is at the heart of our design. Context of the project is paramount and is part of the client’s brief – the response may be complimentary or contrasting.
We surround ourselves with the best people in the industry, which enables us to take inspiration from their creativity to infuse novelty and originality into our projects. We understand our market, market trends and create value where none exists, which is what customers look for in an architect.
A design company lead by a female and a foreigner clearly stands out. This already gives a unique filter to our work. The distinctive viewpoint I have established in the practice is bringing on board my international experience and understanding the client’s emotional attachment to their project and listen to the client. The Studio’s prime ethos – ‘we are here for our clients’.
This of course has its own challenges and every aspect of the design needs to be communicated and the client approval obtained. Our philosophy revolves around simple, transparent and elegant designs. Our work is commercially viable, practicality, we look for value and creativity.
This combination of style and functionality proves that our philosophy is unique to us. We serve to compare every project with a number of these corner stones, which offer a solid foundation and ensure client satisfaction. The overall result of this is that we achieve a built environment conceptualised, visualised and verbalised for our clients.
What is the plan for the next 5 years? What do you want to achieve?
We are expanding the business into mainland Europe. Newly we have been commissioned with a very large refurbishment and conversion of a formal office building in Sofia, and completing a hotel in Veliko Turnovo, Bulgaria. Simultaneously, we are embarking into the hospitality sector and branching in Spain. It is all new developments and we will keep it under wraps for the next year grand reveal.
What is the biggest challenge you’ve faced so far?
There is nothing more invigorating than a client with a vision. We would recommend to surround themselves with people who can deliver their vision, professionals who are keen and understand the client’s viewpoint. Another really important aspect is to have a discussion about the budget from the onset . Designers and architects can work according to the client’s budget. Disclosing it from the onset assists them to achieve a good design within your budget.
How do people get involved/buy into your vision?
We are reaching out to developers and actively seeking more opportunities in the hospitality sector to deliver high end boutique hotels. You can view our portfolio here: https://studiobasheva.com/projects/
