From the founders’ earliest collaboration at university to now, more than 30 years later, Allford Hall Monaghan Morris has been based on a firm commitment to the design of buildings of economy, elegance and delight: buildings that reflect a continuing belief in the ability of outstanding architecture to last through time; buildings whose success is defined not just by the use for which they were commissioned, but by their ability to adapt to different uses; buildings that aim to make a positive and lasting contribution to the city around them; buildings that form the backdrop to the city and the theatre of everyday life, but that can be, in themselves, extraordinary.

The principal focus of the practice, therefore, has been the design of everyday buildings in the city. It is their belief that such buildings can, through intelligent design and a professional methodology, be made extraordinary.

More than 30 years on the field have strengthened their fundamental principles:

• the work should be driven by a strategic approach to design which recognises that changes in circumstance and context, both during the design and during the life of the building, are inevitable
• the work should address and enhance its relationship with both the public it serves and the public spaces that surround it, not least by bringing visual delight
• the work should do more with less; set the best standards of design, regardless of cost or programme; and be open-minded, generous of spirit and ever optimistic
• the focus is architecture – and the endless testing of the boundaries of its application.