People · Podcast guest
Alex Sutton
Turning underused buildings into places people choose to be.
Founder and Creative Director of Studio Sutton, a London architecture and interiors practice working across workspace, science and hospitality.
- Founded
- Studio Sutton, 2019
- Base
- London
- Reach
- UK, Europe, US
- Focus
- Work, science, hospitality
Selected work
Buildings with a reason to stay.
Architecture, interiors and user experience used to reposition commercial buildings and make them work harder.
Stockholm, Sweden
Lilla Nygatan 23
A former neoclassical bank in Stockholm reworked as a 29,000 sq ft hotel-style workplace.
Oslo, Norway · 2024
Stortorvet 7
An 86,000 sq ft workplace contribution to a renewed city-centre destination in Oslo.
London, United Kingdom
The Crick at Regent's Place
A 33,000 sq ft CL2 laboratory and write-up environment at 20 Triton Street in London.
Other public work
London, United Kingdom
The Engine Room
A 42,000 sq ft flexible workplace within the Grade II* listed Battersea Power Station.
London, United Kingdom
68 King William Street
Eight floors of flexible workplace in a former 1920s House of Fraser building near London Bridge.
Founder story
Six months after launching, the expected pipeline disappeared.
Alex founded Studio Sutton in August 2019, aged 29. When the pandemic removed close to a year of expected work, the studio pivoted towards projects in Oslo and Stockholm and built an international practice across the UK, Europe and the US.
Before Studio Sutton, he spent nearly eight years at SevilPeach, working with Vitra, Kvadrat and the Dutch Government and helping shape the original Spaces workplace concept.
- 2008Begins architecture at The Bartlett, UCL
- 2011Joins SevilPeach, later Associate Architect
- 2019Founds Studio Sutton in London
- 2020Pandemic shock, then Oslo and Stockholm pivot
- 2024Stortorvet 7 wins the Oslo City Prize
- 2025RIBA Journal Rising Stars shortlist
The Architecture Social Podcast
He Started His Own Architecture Practice at 29
A candid conversation about the relationships, commercial judgement and resilience behind Studio Sutton, including the decisions that kept a young practice moving through the pandemic.
What Alex says founders should know.
6 lessons from the conversation
- 01
Relationships and patronage begin before launch. A portfolio alone does not create a pipeline.
- 02
The pandemic forced a rapid pivot towards live opportunities in Oslo and Stockholm.
- 03
Unpaid bids can consume about £40,000 before a design is even assessed.
- 04
Burnout is not commitment. Founders must protect their judgement and capacity.
- 05
Small teams need initiative, communication and commercial awareness alongside technical ability.
- 06
AI will alter tasks, but design judgement and trusted relationships remain human advantages.
Explore episode moments
Education & experience
- Education
- The Bartlett, UCL · BSc, MArch and Part 3View university →
- Before Studio Sutton
- SevilPeach · Associate Architect · 2011–2019
- Studio Sutton
- Founder & Creative Director · Since August 2019
- Recognition
- RIBA Journal Rising Stars 2025 shortlist
Continue exploring
Meet the practice behind the projects.
Studio Sutton is a London design-led architecture and interiors studio repositioning commercial buildings into places where people choose to be.
- Workplace
- Hospitality
- Science and innovation
- Adaptive reuse
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