B O X 9

Feeling incredibly proud + humbled that our work on @dentonreserve has been recognised as a finalist in the 'Project of the Year: Hotel Interiors' Grateful to be alongside so much inspiring industry talent. Thank you @mix.interiors --- 📷 @seanaboy + @lucy_franks --- #mixawards2026 #mixawards

Thank you to @thetimesluxury and @thetimes for featuring Denton Hall in LUXX this weekend. A project that continues to gather such thoughtful recognition, and one we are incredibly grateful to have helped shape. We especially loved Lucy Siegle’s description of the interiors as having a ''monastic elegance' Thank you for seeing the intention behind the work and to @sarahward for endlessly championing us. @dentonreserve @thetimesluxury @theseagull @lisa.grainger

Here we are - very early on at one of our latest projects on the iconic South Bank. A place with real cultural weight - and with that comes a responsibility we don’t take lightly. How do we honour what came before while creating something beautiful, more inclusive, more accessible, and more responsible for what comes next? How do we tread lightly. Waste less? Use natural resources and reclaimed by-products with greater intelligence and care? How do we build in a way that restores, rather than simply consumes? And where does that leave contemporary brutalism - not as a style, but as a way of working that values honesty, restraint, and material clarity?

A rich tapestry Rebuilding the interior of an existing structure - brick by brick, to millimetre precision. On our current Soho project, every drawing began with the bricks themselves. They are the structure, the finish + the form. Each line accounts for the rhythm of coursing, the thickness of mortar joints, and the reality that even a 10mm adjustment can result in a cut brick - that must be placed with care + intention. This process has meant months immersed in detail: studying traditional brick bonds, understanding historic techniques, + learning why bricks have been laid the way they have for generations. It’s a discipline that demands patience, precision, and respect for the craft. On site, that translates into hours spent working closely with our skilled contractors at @interiorsukltd setting out each wall with exacting accuracy and collaborating with our expert bricklayers @kcm.heritage whose knowledge continues to shape the project in invaluable ways. What makes this project particularly special is its material honesty. Brick isn’t seen as a hidden substrate here - it's the focal point. From arches and fireplaces to grills and wine cellars, every element celebrates the material and form. Week by week, course by course, the building grows - as does our understanding.

This feature felt truly special - a design journal that reads like a collectible art book. We feel incredibly humbled to be featured alongside such inspiring talent, and to appear on the front cover with a photo we took makes it even more meaningful. A special memory that sits on our bookshelf of a project that is so close to our hearts. Thank you @yuzu.mag

Materials with meaning. Our new calling cards for sister company @berts.co have arrived - a small piece of printed matter, but one that reflects the thinking behind the wider project. The paper stock comes from @favinipapers - who incorporate micronized almond and hazelnut shells into their paper, replacing up to 15% of virgin cellulose with agricultural waste - a considered move towards more circular production. They were printed by Arthur at @calverts_london , our local print cooperative, whose longstanding commitment to social and environmental justice makes them a brilliant fit. And the design comes courtesy of @_studiopasso , who translated the BERTS ethos into something restrained, elegant and quietly confident.

Photography is not separate from our process at BOX 9. It is an early act of framing + reading the landscape our work will inhabit - and from this, a visual language starts to emerge. These images become anchors we return to, holding memory, atmosphere + direction as ideas take shape, building a sense of place that carries through the work. Pebbles in our pockets - small, tactile land notes that find their way back to the studio, into our flat lays, conversations + creative treatments. This series is drawn from a recent visit to Portugal, among the umbrella pines of Santolina and is one of many pallette studies from that remarkable landscape. We’re grateful to be working on @cor_projects alongside @moxonarchitects with @edworkman + @sarahpricelandscapes - many thoughtful minds shaping a single project.

Learning as we build. --- Every project is a series of decisions. Some are visable, many are not, but the ones you don't see are often the ones that matter most. On this project, we are building with @kenoteq + K Briq - currently the lowest carbon brick on the market. From the beginning, the design + detailing have been driven by the brick itself; its proportions, its character + the intent behind using such a progressive material. But choosing a low-carbon brick is only part of the story. Our design required a colour-matched, sustainable mortar. [ which isn't as straight forward as you'd think ] Modern cement mortars can make future reuse almost impossible. Cement is often harder than the bricks themselves, so when the building is eventually demolished - the bricks are typically destroyed in the process. The reason we have so many reclaimed bricks today is because traditional buildings used lime mortar, which is softer than the brick itself - allowing walls to be dismantled + bricks reused, whole. Whilst a colour matched lime mortar was the preference, sustainability decisions often involve trade-offs. Many conversations later - the reality of programme + budget meant that this more traditional route wasn't possible. So, when this building reaches the end of it's life - the majority of these bricks will likely be crushed. Thankfully there are companies like @kenoteq who take back , recycle + return the material into 100% waste bricks. Next time, we will aim to specify lime mortar far earlier so the most circular option remains viable. We do not always get it right first time - but we are committed to learning, improving + making better decisions moving forward. Because sustainability is not just about the headline material, but every layer that supports it. --- To note - the exceptionally talented team at @rose_of_jericho_ltd colour matched these bricks perfectly using their earth pigments. They are a true fountain of knowledge.

From build to @wallpapermag A few before, during + after moments from @pennybunilkley in Yorkshire. We always love returning to these in-between stages: when the light is right, the bones are visible, and the space is beginning to find its own rhythm.

Controlled architecture meets untamed gestures. An unruly moment within a considered space. As both architects + interior designers, we’re always exploring tension between the two disciplines - the quiet push + pull that gives a room its energy. This installation became both feature + gesture. It was conceived to celebrate the cornice detailing, draw the eye upward within the tall volume of the space, take advantage of every sightline upon entry whilst gently softening the architectural lines. Dried stems + seed heads are gathered into a floating composition that shapes the light, casts shifting shadows, and invites the outside in. The detail entrusted, [of course ] to Carla @by_sorelle_

The finished projects will come - but this feed is also about the making. It’s our studio diary. Our first meetings with potential clients - the shaping of trust + direction. Early site visits to read the landscape and context. The wide-angle creative thinking that sets a project in motion; concept decks, gathering photographic references, curating consultants + collaborators, drawing inspiration + collecting samples from the sites landscape. The late-night edits that bring it into focus + presentations where it all lands. And then the middle - the part we’re mostly working through right now. The slower stretch: the drawing packages measured to the millimetre. The materials sourced, tested, questioned, tested again. The details returned to, refined + resolved until they feel right. From remote wellness projects beneath umbrella pines in Portugal, to unicorn Soho restaurant sites - tumbling Oxfordshire homesteads to iconic Southbank spaces. Right now, much of what we’re making is held behind embargo. So for moment, we’re sharing what we can. The process, pace, the imperfect in-between. [ the part that rarely photographs neatly ] The part where the work really happens.

[ Pt 2 ] We’re really grateful to have been invited to walk Andy Goldsworthy’s Hanging Stones trail - a quiet, immersive route that sharpens your attention and left all three of us in total awe. We’re sharing only a few subtle, internal glimpses - and leaving the rest for whoever is lucky enough to find it. 📷 @lucy_franks [ the third member of BOX 9 who is more often behind the lense of this camera than infront of it ]