For more than fifteen years, Bidwells and NMLA have worked side by side, delivering projects that balance architectural ambition with the realities of planning, procurement and construction. This session explored the ideas that underpin that partnership, framed around four themes that consistently shape NMLA’s work: context and narrative, light and space, materiality and craftsmanship, and community and placemaking.
The discussion began with the King Edward’s School Chapel, a project that demonstrates how deeply NMLA engages with the history and atmosphere of a site. Set within a clearing framed by ancient trees, the chapel’s form was inspired by a Seamus Heaney poem describing monks praying beneath the hull of an imagined ship. That image, being both inside and beneath a vessel, became the conceptual backbone of the design. The team even recreated the medieval practice of drawing full‑scale geometry on a plaster floor, allowing them to understand the structure physically rather than relying solely on digital tools. The finished building feels both grounded and ethereal, with timber trusses shaped like a boat’s ribs and clerestory light filtering through as if through a canopy of leaves.
From there, the conversation moved to Worcester College’s Teaching Building, a deceptively modest brief that became a study in how light can shape experience. Two early design decisions transformed the project: extending the lake up to the building so it appears to float, and introducing a clerestory band of glazing that washes the interior with soft, even light. What impressed the client most was not just the elegance of the design but the rigour behind it. NMLA’s internal “crits” (open, sometimes uncomfortable design reviews) led to a breakthrough moment when a colleague suggested carrying the clerestory mullions down to form a cloister‑like colonnade. It was a small shift that fundamentally improved the building, and a reminder of how a culture of constructive challenge elevates design.
Craftsmanship was another thread running through the talk. On several projects, including Worcester and Somerville, Bidwells and NMLA appointed stonemasons, joiners and specialist fabricators unusually early in the process. This allowed the team to test full‑scale mock‑ups, refine details collaboratively and ensure that the architectural intent survived the pressures of procurement. It also enabled technical achievements such as the chapel’s 60‑millimetre‑deep X‑shaped timber joints, a feat only one company in the country could deliver. As Richard noted, bringing makers into the room early builds trust and turns the construction process into a shared creative endeavour.
The session closed with a look at a recent Oxfordshire project combining a nursery, care home and student accommodation: three uses that are typically kept apart. Instead of separating them, the team developed a permeable management plan that encourages intergenerational interaction. It’s a subtle but powerful example of designing not just buildings, but relationships.
Richard ended by asking a question many in the audience were thinking: with a Stirling Prize win, a Royal Gold Medal for founder Niall McLaughlin and major international projects underway, why hasn’t the practice scaled to a hundred people? Tilo’s answer was simple. The work matters more than the size. A tight‑knit team allows for the deep collaboration, open critique and craft‑led approach that define their architecture. In a world obsessed with growth, it’s a quietly radical stance.
This Todd Talk was more than a retrospective. It was a reminder of what the built environment can be when narrative shapes form, when light is treated as a material, when craft is valued as highly as concept and when community is designed into the brief from the very beginning. It showcased the best of long‑term collaboration. The kind that produces buildings with longevity, integrity and soul.
