Historic Building Architecture
HBA is deliberately small, built on the complementary skills of its two principal architects, bringing together design and conservation expertise across a range of technologies for projects of any scale.
Rhys Brookes
B.Sc. B.Arch. Grad.Dipl.Cons.(AA) RIBA SCA AABC
Rhys Brookes trained as an Architect at Bath University, graduating in 1989. He gained his first experience working on a selection of Grade I-listed classical buildings, including the temples at Stowe Garden and a range of stately homes. He completed the Post Graduate Diploma of Conservation at the Architectural Association, London in 1997.
After working as an in-house Architect for a company building traditional green oak timber frames, he applied this knowledge to repairing medieval timber structures and later worked with Roderick James Architects, designing innovative new oak-framed buildings.
The work begins by trying to crack a building's code: the rationale behind its form, construction, and materials.
Rhys’ work is driven by a desire to ‘crack the code’ of buildings, unpicking the rationale and evolution of their form, construction, and materials to inform decisions about repairs or adaptations. He uses his skill and aptitude for traditional drafting techniques to explore the geometry and proportions that create harmony in new design and facilitate historical analysis.
Rhys is enthusiastic about building his extensive knowledge of materials and building technologies and explores the process further by undertaking metal casting, woodturning, and joinery projects at home.
Education
B.Sc., B.Arch., Bath University, 1989
Conservation
Post Graduate Diploma in Conservation, Architectural Association, London, 1997
Accreditation
RIBA · Specialist Conservation Architect (SCA) · Architects Accredited in Building Conservation (AABC)
Specialisms
Medieval timber structures, green oak framing, historic building analysis, traditional construction
Rebecca Harrison
B.Sc. B.Arch. ARB
Rebecca Harrison trained as an Architect at Bath University, graduating in 1992 with two first-class honours degrees. She studied at the British Institute in Florence and received the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings’ Scholarship in 1993, which included nine months of intensive, hands-on conservation training on building sites across the United Kingdom. She initially worked repairing listed medieval churches and vernacular buildings in Somerset before establishing Harrison Brookes Architects.
Rebecca focuses on how people experience and interact with buildings. She aims to maximise places' potential, both spatially and functionally, and to provide creative, aesthetically pleasing solutions to practical problems.
The starting point is always how people will experience and use a building; everything else follows from that.
Her practical skills from building boats, repairing and maintaining houses, and everyday family life give her an implicit understanding of what living and working environments need to perform over time. Believing that effective repair, reuse, and upgrading of existing buildings is the most sustainable solution, she has recently pursued further training to become a Retrofit Coordinator and Domestic Energy Assessor.
Education
B.Sc., B.Arch., Bath University, 1992, dual first-class honours
Further study
The British Institute, Florence
Conservation
SPAB Scholarship, 1993, nine months' hands-on training on historic building sites nationwide
Accreditation
ARB, Architects Registration Board
Specialisms
Spatial and functional design, listed churches and vernacular buildings, sustainability and retrofit
Harrison Brookes Recognition
Awarded, shortlisted and accredited
