With a family name synonymous with innovative architecture, Lucy O'Sullivan continues to push the envelope.

LOS ANGELES, CA, USA, March 1, 2015 /EINPresswire.com/ -- For Lucy O'Sullivan, designing awe-inspiring and environmentally sustainable buildings is something that runs in her blood.

For nearly a decade the UK-based architect has been producing award-winning future forward structures that are dynamic, functional and above all, captivating.

The daughter of ingenious architect Derrie O'Sullivan, the man who designed the Denby Dale PassivHaus in West Yorkshire, the first PassivHaus building in the UK to be built from cavity wall construction, Lucy's inherent talent for creating innovative and purposeful architecture is compounded by her knowledge of cohabitation.

She explains, "I am passionate about the design of buildings affecting people’s lives, and the way they live. How cities and the people that live in them relate to each other. How cities have evolved and how they develop."

Like her father, Lucy O'Sullivan is inspired to create structures that add ease to peoples' everyday lives, and serve the overall community in a socially and environmentally responsible way.

A testament to her ability to blend functionality and material research, Lucy helped design the multi-award winning Brent Civic Centre in London as an architect with Hopkins Architects.

Incorporating a sustainable method of natural ventilation and day lighting for the offices, the £89 million structure is a centralized headquarters for the council departments of one of London's largest boroughs, departments which were previously scattered across the area in 14 different buildings making the workflow inefficient and costly.

Lucy's integral contributions helped garner the team multiple prestigious awards including the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) National Award, the RIBA Regional Award, Building Magazine's 'Sustainable Project of the Year,' the Corporate Workplace Award for the London region from the British Council for Offices, Best Public Service Building from the LABC London Building Excellence Awards and more. Brent Civic Centre was also the first office building to receive an ‘Outstanding Rating’ from BREEAM.

David Selby of Hopkins Architects explains, "[Lucy's] work at the design development stage of the Brent Civic Centre was invaluable where she worked on the detailed facade design... She exhibited talents not just for the design aspect of her job, but for the management and important client interaction aspects as well."

An architect's work extends far beyond designing the floor plan for a commercial structure or private home. Architects like Lucy need to be vastly knowledgeable about ever-changing building codes, safety regulations, construction costs and materials, and most importantly, the way a project will effect the surrounding population both during and after construction.

During her time at Rivington Street Studio, Lucy worked as the lead architect on the expansion of Cayley Primary School in Limehouse, East London. Beyond designing the expansion of the school, Lucy and the client/contractor, Morgan Sindall, headed up by project manager Lucynda Jensen, went to great lengths to make sure the construction wouldn't interfere with the daily operation of the school; and, in part due to her intelligent forethought, precise planning and ability to liaise between the local authority client and the contractor, the project has been a resounding success, with improved attendance figures and praise running high for the new extension.

"The engagement process was interesting and lengthy and involved consultation with local residents, leadership team, teachers, pupils and the local authority," explains Lucy. "The design process was a challenging lesson of balancing planning, client and budgetary constraints, on a tight site with a school in operation, with trying to create interesting spaces and simple but elegant details."

While at Rivington Street Studio Lucy also worked on the expansion of several other London schools including Orchard Primary School, Godwin Junior High and London South Bank University.

From her upbringing in Northern England, where she says, "Northern towns such as Manchester, Liverpool and Leeds had a strong impact with their ‘dark satanic mills’, red brick terraces and strong civic identities," to her studies and work in practice in Amsterdam, Barcelona and Newcastle, Lucy's dynamic work clearly stems from a mélange of aesthetic influences.

Beyond aesthetics however, Lucy says she is most fascinated "By the development, regeneration, gentrification and downfall of cities and towns in general. Watching the patterns that develop and how the economy and other influences such as technology, globalization, politics, local government and the planning system affect the built environment."

Lucy has been on the radar as a sought after architect for high-profile international projects for quite some time now. New York-based firm REX Architects enlisted her services to help with the design of Museum Plaza in Louisville, Kentucky.

Despite her international success, Lucy has made it a point to use her skills to benefit the community through multiple volunteer endeavors including being a volunteer architect for Architecture for Humanity UK (AFHUK) during the Crisis at Christmas project in 2010.

"For Crisis at Christmas we turned a disused large bare law court building into a temporary Christmas shelter for homeless people, with a team of 12 architect friends," explains Lucy. "The theme of the re-fit was "cosyfication" and we used large seasonal cut-out objects such as reindeer heads to enliven the space, as well as furnishing activity rooms such as a large ‘cinema’s space”.

As an architect at Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios Lucy O'Sullivan is currently working on an ambitious 32-floor student-housing skyscraper known as The Atlas project in Vauxhall, London.

"The proposed development will provide both facilities and employment for the local community in the lower levels, with the upper levels providing high-quality student accommodation with spectacular views across London," says Lucy.

Lucy O'Sullivan uses her innovative and thoughtful design talents to create structures that serve the community, incorporate sustainability and help to create a better future, and we cannot wait to see what she designs next!

Portia Leigh
Q27 Media
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