Name
Thierry Lye.

When did you join Austin-Smith:Lord?
Summer 2021.

What is your role within our Creative Collective?
Architect.

What are you working on at the moment?
Life Sciences Innovation Centre in Inverness, and Ayrshire Hospice.

What inspires you most in your work?
The aspiration of making a fine public building for clients.

What lessons have you learned in your work?
Communication is key in both verbal and drawing format.

Which designers / projects do you most admire and why? 
Renzo Piano, because his buildings speak to their surrounding in a humble but elegant way.

What is your favourite Austin-Smith:Lord project and why? 
The restoration and refurbishment of Anchor Line. The building is absolutely stunning from the outside, and the refurbished interior further compliments the experience of dining in the restaurant on the ground floor.

What are the key issues facing our design professions in the 2020s?
The challenge to convince clients that retrofit is the new way to go for combating climate emergency, instead of a knock-down-and-build strategy. Many including Architects’ Journal are campaigning for retrofit, and it’s slowly gearing up across all professions in the construction industry.

What’s something you’re planning on doing in the next year that you’ve never done?
Explore North America and visit major cities like New York, Toronto, Los Angeles…

What’s the best advice you’ve ever heard? 
See the world before you design the world.

Complete the following – “I couldn’t get through the week without……..”
Social media.