Changing perceptions

DP9 is a London-based operation – the capital is where a good deal (though not all) of its work is located and where it has played its own part in changing perceptions, challenging orthodoxies and, on occasions, rewriting the rules. It is the belief in quality that is the defining characteristic of this new approach. Decades ago, there were “commercial” architects and “good” architects, the latter generally disdaining commissions for office buildings, private residential developments and retail schemes. The distinction now seems ludicrous. Nor are developers afraid of commissioning young and relatively untried architectural practices: most of the mood of innovation and risk-taking today is generated by the commercial, rather than the public, sector. New names, unknown a few years ago, are making their mark alongside the established giants of the property scene.