oao architects

OAO did a great job for us with a large kitchen and open plan dining area development. They were proactive in coming forward with design ideas which we found very helpful with the project. I would thoroughly recommend the team.

Right where to start…we were first introduced to Oliver indirectly through our neighbours; they had just undertaken a massive, beautiful extension. We went round for drinks and the neighbours showed us the architect’s packs. Very impressed by the detail of the 3-D drawings and renders of the final finish - this was created at the beginning of the project and basically appeared to be a complete replica of what was achieved. We contacted Oliver and his team and were immediately at ease. There is clearly a difference between being qualified and having ability. Oliver is a third generation architect and spoke passionately about art, structure and form and how he wanted to put different elements into the design. Hard not to fall in love with someone who really cares and is able. We quickly agreed to work with him. We explained our vision of the house. For full disclosure we had bought a very ugly house and had been really worried as to how we would ever make it look like a beautiful home. Our project involved making a very ugly house look less ugly and and incorporating the garage into the house to create another living room (so that we could spend less time with our children I really do want to watch TV sometimes!). Additionally, we wanted to convert our kitchen and dining room in a large space that would really be the hub of the house. We did we did not want a ‘cookie cutter kitchen-diner extension from 1990’. We wanted a space that was awesome, usable and very cool. Over the course of getting to where we are at the moment -which is just waiting for builder quotes. We have made Oliver breakfast more times than we can remember; I am sure this compensated him for helping us navigate the need to fill out endless forms or the minefield that is planning, building regulation and party wall approvals. Oliver and his team have really designed a kitchen-dining room that is beyond awesome. It has a key feature which is a moving island and is really beautiful in the renders; we know from his previous work, that these renders will fully reflect the finished look. Our media-room (old garage) has a ‘James Bond - villain style” sunken sofa and hidden TV and is truly stunning (I think the hard bit will be to keep our children out of it). It has been a joy to work with Oliver and I’m sure that we have made him pull his hair out many times. .He has used a combination of pencils and paper together with flying drones (so cool) and virtual reality to really show us what our house and kitchen will like. It has been a pleasure to work with him and we can only recommend Oliver and his team loads.

We've worked with OAO on a couple of projects now and definitely appreciate the attention to detail, focus on client relationships and relaxed tone in working through the programme and schedules which can otherwise become such a source of unnecessary stress. The Cromdale project was a case in point and with a few more currently in development, we're looking forward to continuing to build our relationship into the future.