Each of our clients is a driving personality for a project, bringing particular aspirations and focused requirements. We are committed to the needs of the final ‘inhabitants’ resonating in practical but also intriguing ways that prompt the imagination and allow repeated delight in the spaces and places that appear.

The client’s requirements - the ‘brief’ or ‘program’ - brings intricate and sometimes unexpected aims, and these specificities are always at the core of each project’s richness.

Our current past and present client list includes:

Alamos
Alexis Hall
American Civil War Museum
Begum Studios
Carney Investments
Crosstown Arts, Memphis
Crosstown Concourse, Memphis
Curb Market
David and Jean White
Jacobson Family Trust
Janis Bell
Jen Wong and John Solomon
Jorian Polis Schutz
Kathryn Gustafson
OLIN
Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City
National Theatre, London
Nick Barham
Rhiannon Sussex and Richard Piercy
Richmond BridgePark Foundation
Rick Mather USA
TBWA \ Chiat \ Day
Uncle John’s Café
Washington and Lee University
William Eggleston Museum, Memphis
Wyn Owens

We pride ourselves on repeat business with some of our clients, sometimes over many years, and welcome the rich relationships and final outcomes that a sustained dialogue leads to.

We have now worked with Crosstown Concourse in Memphis, for example, since 2010 in various phases of the work and have continued to develop new projects including the original Ideas Study for the ruined, monolithic 1 million sq ft Sears distribution center, details and space planning for the completed Crosstown Concourse, Crosstown Arts, Crosstown Curb, and Crosstown Theater.

From Dr. Todd Richardson, Co-Leader, Crosstown Concourse:

“Peter and his team at Spatial Affairs played an integral part in helping realize our vision for the Crosstown Building. Their initial concept study laid a foundation for us to reimagine the building as an urban vertical village, which challenged us to think beyond its four walls and its steel and stone. The result is a structure designed with the intention of creating, for all those who enter, unexpected opportunities to learn, grow, and explore together.”

This statement came from Mark Crosby, President of Alamos Inc with whom we developed various conceptual layouts for a Memphis-based museum for photographer William Eggleston:

“I met Peter Culley and was introduced to Spatial Affairs through his work for the VMFA (Virginia Museum of Fine Arts) in Richmond, VA in 2010.  He and his team have since provided our photography museum initiative with invaluable and timely assistance—even leadership—as we examined multiple sites and programs for our project.  Peter’s experience, vision, creativity, passion, and careful attention to detail, along with his ability to seamlessly weave in greater contexts from regional, urban-planning schemes to realms of history and the practices and disciplines of others, taken together lead to what we all seek in our best-laid plans—a way to meaning.  Peter was a trusted guide in that endeavor.”

Wyn Owens, our primary client relationship on Round Hill Pavilions, which won an AIA Honor Award, writes:

“My rural family had decades of tradition gathering on our Virginia family farm for picnics when I approached Spatial Affairs to commission concepts for a covered, outdoor pavilion.  The site, a virgin wooded area overlooking a pond, presented an obvious, one-structure vernacular concept to the minds of me and my family. How mistaken we were! The team at Spatial Affairs presented compelling concepts to us that we could never have envisioned ourselves; and moreover, they wonderfully demonstrated various design merits to us that we could not appreciate without encouragement and guidance. In the end we selected a design which, for its usefulness,  has encouraged the family to gather more frequently than ever before; and for its aesthetic sophistication has provide us all with something in which we have taken much pride. The Spatial Affairs team at all stages of conception and design was supportive, responsive and flexible, resulting in an uncommonly successful and enjoyable collaboration.”

Nick Barham who we’ve worked with on several projects provided us with the following commentary on his experience in working with us:

Working with Peter Culley was both eye-opening and mind expanding. It was my first time working with an architect and we were transforming a ramshackle Venice bungalow into something quite different.  From the start, Peter knew how to get the best out the confusing space and turned a jumble of rooms into a continuous flow between different sections and the yard. The functionality of the modular layout was accompanied by a series of surprises and a sense of humor.

Peter was a reassuring if provocative guide. I paid close attention to the plans and renderings that he shared throughout the process, and thought I had understood the house we were building, but years later I would discover a new perspective or catch the sunlight cutting an unexpected line through the sky light. The house revealed itself over time.

Attention to detail - and to my questions - was exceptional and the whole process was stimulating and enjoyable with the bonus of somewhere to live at the end. The house has seen it all - from picnics to paella parties to extended family visits and lockdown - and has always provided exactly the backdrop that was required.

Rana Begum, our client for the Bouverie Mews home and workplace compound project in north London said:

Peter and the Spatial Affairs team have been absolutely amazing from beginning to end. Spatial Affairs Bureaus’ experience, approach, attention to detail and clients needs have been exceptional. Peter is dedicated to providing the perfect home and work space!

Janis Bell - who has suffered toxic shock as a result of exposure to mould in a former home and is committed to exploring ways to create a new home that uses healthy materials and resists the potential for any mould formation - has developed a years-long dialogue with the practice about ideas and techniques. Janis has said of working with Peter:

I keep thinking how amazing (Peter is) as a person, and as an architect (although I don’t have the qualifications to judge); I love (his) open-mindedness and interest in exploring things at the frontiers, and commitment to the health of our planet. I feel fortunate our paths crossed