assemble: a practice grounded in partnership
and connection Assemble has actually established a practice that moves between architecture, style, and social engagement, working throughout scales to produce not only structures however likewise the conditions that sustain them. Co-founder Anthony Engi Meacock, during his conversation with designboom editor-in-chief Sofia Lekka Angelopoulou (find designboom’s coverage here), describes a method grounded in partnership, making, and long-lasting thinking.
Founded in 2010 to undertake a single self-built project, the London-based cumulative emerged from a desire to act directly on the built environment. As Meacock discusses, early work was driven by ‘attempting to interact once again in the manner in which we had actually done at university’ and by ‘exploring our agency as designers in public.’ What began as an informal collaboration has since evolved into a practice that preserves a non-hierarchical structure while engaging with progressively complex jobs.
Central to Assemble’s work is an expanded understanding of architecture itself. Rather than focusing entirely on form, the collective runs through what Meacock refers to as ‘an extremely holistic idea about the sort of activities that come under architecture,’ incorporating programs, fabrication, and long-term use. This technique allows tasks to extend beyond their preliminary construction, embedding themselves within existing communities and systems, and supporting forms of connection that withstand the short-term logic of conventional development, where paradise is less pictured than it is lived. ‘It’s not just about the work we do now. It has to do with creating a sustainable framework for the future,’ Meacock includes, pointing to a practice that focuses on connection, versatility, and shared authorship over fixed outcomes.
The Cineroleum( 2010) from self-built experiments to collective infrastructures Put together began as a loose collective testing what architecture could do outside of commissions. In 2010, simply after the monetary crash, its members came together to understand The Cineroleum, a self-built cinema in a disused fuel station in London. Without any official structure and very little resources, the project ended up being a workout in total authorship.’We sort of developed it, developed it … we programmed it, we made the uniforms, we made the indications, we chose the films, we managed it,’ remembers co-founder Anthony Engi Meacock. This task formed the cumulative’s method of working, one rooted in immediacy, collaboration, and a shared sense of firm.
That early, improvised design continues to underpin the cumulative’s practice today. Put together techniques architecture as an evolving framework, an expanded understanding that becomes more specific in jobs like Blackhorse Workshop in Walthamstow, a neighborhood workshop developed in the wake of the 2011 riots. Conceived as ‘a library of tools,’ the area stays intentionally minimal, while the social infrastructure it enables continues to grow. Substantially, the job runs individually from the studio. ‘it’s a separate company … something that we’ve developed and after that type of let go,’ Meacock discusses, highlighting a repeating aspiration to build systems that can sustain themselves beyond the architect’s control.
This method extends into more traditional commissions without losing its experimental edge. At the Goldsmiths Centre for Contemporary Art, Assemble works within an existing commercial structure, developing products through on-site screening and fabrication. Working with tight budgets, the group produces custom aspects internal, from exterior components to tiles and surfaces, embedding craft directly into the structure process. As Meacock notes, this permitted them ‘to develop a very economic inexpensive kind of crafted component on a structure,’ showing how hands-on making can operate even within institutional restraints.
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“retrofitting the present: put together’s technique to a collective future-2″width= “818”height =”557″data-src=”https://static.designboom.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/assemble-collective-future-interview-designboom-06.jpg”/ > a self-built cinema in an obsolete petrol station in London granby as a lived paradise’You’re not attempting to begin things from scratch,’ Meacock describes, explaining a technique that prioritizes existing communities, products, and networks. This concept finds its most engaging expression in Granby Four Streets in Liverpool, a long-term cooperation with citizens in a neighborhood shaped by decades of decline and failed regeneration policies. Where previous interventions had removed local identity, replacing ‘genuine material culture … and real community’ with ‘extremely nondescript, extremely soulless’ developments, Assemble starts rather by listening.By the time the cumulative becomes included, homeowners have already started their own types of resistance, painting empty houses, planting gardens, and arranging street markets. ‘They ‘d arrange of taken matters into their own hands,’ Meacock remembers. Instead of imposing a masterplan, Assemble establishes an incremental strategy that works with these existing efforts.
Within the restored homes, small gestures carry considerable weight. After years of disregard, numerous interiors had actually been removed back entirely. ‘All products of worth been eliminated from the property,’ checked out the notices left behind. In reaction, Put together allocates a small portion of the spending plan to what they call ‘enhancements,’ reintroducing minutes of care and identity. Fireplaces, in particular, end up being symbolic anchors, described by Meacock as a ‘phoenix-like renewal of your home.’ These aspects persist even as new citizens adjust the areas to their own needs, suggesting a kind of connection that extends beyond the initial intervention.
The job expands even more through Granby Workshop, a social enterprise producing handcrafted items influenced by the architectural details of the area. Initially developed as part of Assemble’s Turner Reward election, the workshop has given that developed into an employee-owned company, producing tasks and sustaining local production. Creating a sort of economic activity within the area, Meacock explains, points to a wider ambition: architecture not just as spatial intervention, however as a catalyst for long-lasting social and economic structures.
Granby Four Streets (2013)thinking environmentally, not just sustainably Along with this socially engaged work, Assemble’s practice likewise engages deeply with material research study. Questioning standard notions of sustainability, Meacock recommends a more grounded approach:’We’re quite like primitivists as architects … we’re interested in the important things being the important things.’ Instead of counting on technological systems, the collective focuses on the fundamental properties of products and their relationship to place, approaching style through environmental thinking instead of optimization.
This thinking is developed further in their cooperation with Atelier LUMA in Arles, where the group works with regional resources such as rice husks, sunflower stalks, and limestone dust to establish brand-new building and construction systems. The process is iterative and speculative, with multiple materials tested on site. ‘There’s about 20 various materials … 3 or four actually became things that were usable,’ Meacock notes, highlighting the role of experimentation and its effect in the style procedure.
a long-term partnership with locals
one method
throughout several scales
Throughout setups, buildings, and metropolitan methods, Put together maintains a consistent focus on participation, craft, and versatility. ‘Our variety is a strength and often a weakness,’ Meacock reflects, yet this breadth permits the studio to operate throughout disciplines while keeping a clear underlying method. No matter scale, architecture is comprehended not as a fixed outcome, however as a process that unfolds through use. Through research study into community land trusts and in your area driven housing designs, Assemble explores alternatives to standard top-down systems. How you could look at like a various design development, Meacock suggests, points toward a shift from designing private projects to shaping the structures that produce them.
This values is shown internally within the practice itself. Operating with a flat hierarchy, Put together allows long-term partners to end up being partners, ensuring continuity while preserving its collective structure. ‘Anyone who signs up with … is qualified to join the partnership,’ Meacock discusses, reinforcing a model based upon shared authorship and steady development.
Instead of proposing paradise as a remote or idealized vision, Put together constructs it incrementally, through jobs that are embedded, adaptive, and open-ended.
painting empty houses, planting gardens, and arranging street markets Granby Winter Season Garden (2019) an incremental technique that deals with existing efforts the group keeps a constant focus on involvement, craft, and adaptability