Greg Blee, founder of Blee Halligan, tells ADF how he found himself working in architecture almost by accident, and why he now focuses on creating projects overseas which blend into their landscapes
What made you want to become an architect?
It sort of happened by accident. My father, my grandfather, and two of my brother-in-laws are all architects. I wanted to become a race mechanic for a Formula One team as I had a kart racing career when I was a teenager and was entirely hooked and wanted to make a life out of it, but my mum thought I should go to do one year of university first to see whether I liked it or not. I picked architecture and went to the University of Bath, but it wasn’t until my Erasmus year in the Netherlands that I really started to ‘get it’ – and my post graduate diploma at the Bartlett cemented my love for architecture. But it all took a while…
What do you like most about it now?
I love a few aspects. The knock-on-the-door from a new client is always thrilling – that feeling of opportunity. I enjoy the concept stage when you have freedom to dream of a solution that you think might work for the client, and the excitement of showing them what your idea is for them. I also enjoy the technical aspects of design and being involved in critiquing the studio’s construction documents with a view to longevity, robustness and resilience. The middle bit, with planning, I could definitely leave to someone else!
What was the biggest challenge in co-founding a practice in two continents?
Well, one came after the other – naturally – but I remember very distinctly having no money and a lot of stress, with the phone ringing either late at night or very early in the morning from clients in our other location! It was really stressful, but I sensed the opportunity abroad which kept me going.
How hard have you found getting the right UK projects to establish yourselves here?
To be honest, we have stopped working in the UK for the time being. The planning process is nonsense and takes far too long for no reason in my opinion. It feels like it’s only there to dilute ambition and free thinking. The opportunity for exciting work is just not in the UK at the moment for us. So we are looking elsewhere abroad to find opportunities where there might be like minded clients.
What do you mean by pursuing ‘the convergence of nature, experience and materiality’ in residential projects & have you always achieved it?
The honest answer is no. More generally, I don’t feel that we have ever really succeeded in making a brilliant project just yet – it’s an endless search! Architecture is really hard, with all the factors involved in trying to find common ground with clients, planning complexities, and the obvious financial constraints.
What we imagine by the statement “the convergence of nature, experience and materiality” is some kind of vision of a symbiotic, low impact harmonious relationship of inhabiting landscape in a way that connects you fundamentally to it. This would be via a vessel (building) which would sit elegantly in that landscape, one that offers the inhabitants comfort and enjoyment whilst using materials that soften into the site conditions over time, so it becomes one with its environment.
What individual piece of design are you most proud of?
Our smallest one; Mountain Rescue in France, it’s just 15 m². It was designed to be inserted into an old ruin and was entirely made offsite, and we transported it to its remote location in a van down a three mile dirt track. Lee and I spent a year and a half building it by hand, and it’s a little jewel.
How does working in two very different contexts (The West Indies and The UK) help to inform designs in each case?
I would love to design a proper villa in the UK which is informed by our work in the West Indies, which is based on openness, and resilience (as we have to work in hurricane and earthquake zones) as well as using low energy strategies.
We haven’t had the opportunity yet to do this yet. I suppose working in the UK was more of a foundation of professionalism (such as dealing with planning and technical design), as opposed to anything formally design related for us. It has been a brilliant foundation, but our eyes are set on opportunities abroad.
What would you pick – a handful of well-regarded projects or a continuous stream of financially lucrative ones?
For now, as a growing young practice, I would say a continuous stream of financially lucrative ones. Client-led projects are hard because you inevitably have to fit their vision in some way, and there are inevitably compromises. Financial stability allows the office to take some risks and to seek out new opportunities. We are looking for adventure and varied experience in our careers, which can only really be achieved with some financial security. The well regarded projects will come in the end.
What’s your big goal for Blee Halligan going forward – do you intend to stay in the residential sector?
We want to expand into the hospitality sector as we see residential and hospitality as great partners with some kind of duality between them. We see this to offer us interesting opportunities in the future.
Our wider goal is to expand our studio to new countries.
What is your big personal goal?
Personally, I want new experiences and new adventures, so I would love to have a life of working between a few different countries that are culturally, climatically and geographically different.
How do you attract architects to work in the UK office?
At Blee Halligan we try not to dilute our vision of what we want to do with the business – and we do try to be very straightforward about our ambitions. If we can describe that in simple and optimistic terms, we will find like-minded people that want to develop themselves, alongside our shared development of the studio. It’s obviously a form of relationship so it can only work if there is common ground, common goals and shared ambitions.