architecture in the landscape
ABOUT US
We are architects working on projects embedded in the landscape.
We are an environmentally and nature-conscious practice and we firmly believe that nature must be cherished and valued. Our work does not stand independent of its surroundings but instead in a seamless symbiosis with the natural landscape. We design with and for nature, ensuring wherever possible to use local and natural materials. Our work is timeless and contemporary, designed for the long-term, growing with the context and the individual. We always work closely with our clients ensuring a personal service that centers each project’s occupants and the unique needs of each site.
Alongside the practice, our principal, Charles Mador, is growing a conservation project in North Wales: The Ark Snowdonia / Y Arch Eryri. His passion for sustainability and the outdoors, realised in The Ark heavily influences our output as a practice.
Since 2008, the practice has built two of its own developments: Arthog Barns in Snowdonia in Wales and Tremlett Mews in Islington in London. One common thread in our development work is the restoration of beautiful historic buildings for use as contemporary spaces, which are generously designed and built to last. We are also interested in working with partners who might invest in our development projects - please get in touch with practice@mador.co.uk
OUR PEOPLE
CHARLES MADOR, Principal & Founder
BArch RIBA ARB
Charles Mador received his diploma from Carlton University in Canada in 1979. Following his graduation, Charles immigrated to the UK where he completed his Part 3 at the Architectural Association in London. Over the next ten years, Charles worked as an Architect for firms including Evans and Shalev Architects before establishing Mador Architects in 1991.
Charles is interested in the relationship of buildings to the immediate and larger landscape, working closely with landscape designers to harness the beauty of the natural surroundings. Over a number of years he has worked in some of the most dramatic and protected landscapes within the UK.
Alongside the practice, he has founded a charity with the aim of creating and funding nature flora and fauna restoration projects in the upland landscape of Snowdonia in Northern Wales.
LARA KARADY, Associate
RIBA Part I
Lara joined the practice in 2011 as an apprentice and has worked closely with Charles over the last decade on all sizes, types and stages of projects. She shares with the practice a longstanding passion for designing projects in nature and to this end, she has pursued the ambition to make simple architecture that sensitively inhabits its ecology and that will stand the test of time.
Recent projects on which she has been closely involved include the construction stage design and project management of the new resort buildings at La Cazine Resort in France, a new mews development at Tremlett Mews and the complete overhaul of a 17th Century farmhouse at Homecroft in Dorset. Lara has a practice management role working to coordinate teamwork across projects.
Lara is a Londoner of European origin and is fluent in French. She is a new mum, a keen swimmer and an amateur choral singer.
GERALDINE HOLLAND, Associate
BSc DipArch MArch ARB
Geraldine is an Architect with over a decade of experience working across all RIBA work stages at a range of scales in the landscape and the city. She is passionate about the spatial and physical experience of buildings in nature. Geraldine has a particular interest in the relationship between water and architecture and has led workshops on this theme at leading institutions such as, the Design Museum, Somerset House and the V&A. Geraldine has lectured at various universities and presented at research conferences in the UK and abroad.
Prior to Mador, Geraldine managed large-scale, public sector projects with an emphasis on environmental sustainability, landscape, community engagement and public realm whilst working at award-winning design-led practices. She continues ongoing research into the poetics of water and space through art-based projects, sailing and swimming.