Extract from entry in Dictionary of Architecture, Compiled by Professor James Stevens Curl, Oxford University Press.

“English architect. Having rejected International Modernism he sought to show how the classical language of architecture could be used in contemporary economic, technical and functional requirements. His work is derived largely from Georgian sources and he made his name with Ashfold House in West Sussex (1991), influenced by Soane's architecture.

Simpson had considerable influence in making the public aware of the New Classicism in the 1980s, especially with the exhibition Real Architecture at the Building Centre, London (1988). His works at Gonville and Caius College, at the University of Cambridge (1994-98), have added lustre to his reputation. In 2000, his Market Building, the first public building at the Prince of Wales's Development in Poundbury, was completed. In 1999 his firm won the competition to redevelop the Queen's Galleries and Royal Kitchens at Buckingham Palace, London which was completed in time for the opening of The Queen's Golden Jubilee Celebration in 2002. Since then the practice has been commissioned to carry out work in the USA and has worked on two buildings on the upper East side of Manhattan on 5th Avenue in New York. The first, completed in 2005, has been described by the Landmarks Commission of New York as the first Traditionally Classical Building to be built in the city since the 1960's and for which he was awarded the Palladio prize in 2007."

John Simpson has been eminent in the urban design field, first coming to prominence with his design for Paternoster Square in the City of London in the early 1990's. Since then, he has become the masterplanner for several new mixed-use urban extensions in England, such as Fairford Leys in Aylesbury for the Ernest Cook Trust. He was the adviser to Solihull Metropolitan Council for the new village at Dickens Heath, completed in 2010. He prepared the masterplan for Newcastle Great Park in Newcastle Upon Tyne and the new mixed-use urban extension to Swindon, known as the Swindon Southern Development Area, completed in 2008.

John Simpson pioneered mixed-use sustainable urban design long before it was adopted as government policy in the UK and his work appears within government best practice guidance documentation such as “Places, Streets and Movement”. He also pioneered the idea of design codes for establishing quality in design, which he first applied at Fairford Leys in Aylesbury, and has worked as part of the pilot study for Design Codes run for The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) by the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE).

In 2004, he won the competition to design a masterplan and new buildings for Peterhouse, the oldest college at the University of Cambridge, and in 2005, he won a similar competition for his masterplan design proposals for new graduate and undergraduate facilities at Lady Margaret Hall at the University of Oxford.

In 2008 he was given the Arthur Ross Award by the Institute of Classical Architecture in New York.

More recently he has worked on the new public facilities at Kensington Palace, which were opened for Her Majesty’s Diamond Jubilee in 2012, the new quadrangle at Eton College and the new Defence and National Rehabilitation Centre. John is particularly skilled at arranging spaces to maximise their efficiency and to make them enjoyable to use.

In 2014 John Simpson won the competition to design the new School of Architecture at the University of Notre Dame, the world’s leading institution teaching architects in the Classical tradition.

Much of his work has involved working with new buildings designed within sensitive historic settings and with Listed buildings in conservation areas. Many of these buildings are Grade I Listed.

The following awards have been accumulated over recent years:

• Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors Award for Building Conservation 2013
• Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors Award for a building providing a major Community Benefit 2013
• Georgian Group Award for the Restoration of a Georgian Garden/Landscape 2012
• Georgian Award for Best New Classical Building 2010
• Philippe Rotthier European Prize for Architecture 2008
• Award of Excellence from the Society of American Registered Architects 2008
• The Arthur Ross Award: Institute of Classical Architecture 2008
• The Carnegie Hill Neighbors' Award for Architectural Excellence 2007
• The Palladio Award 2007
• The Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea Environment Award 2004
• RIBA Award for the Queen's Gallery 2003
• The Royal Fine Arts Trust Building of the Year Award 2003
• The Worshipful Company of Masons Award 2003
• The Georgian Group Best New Classical Building 2003
• RICS Conservation Award for the work at Gonville Court at Gonville and Caius College Cambridge 1999
• American Institute of Architects Honor Award for Urban Design 1996

Michael Simpson is a graduate in Building Economics and Management from the University of Westminster, London. Before joining the practice he worked with Trollope & Colls, London on major London construction projects, such as at Debenhams on Oxford Street.

He has been responsible for the implementation of the work at Gonville and Caius College at the University of Cambridge (1994-1998), and for Peterhouse (1996-1999), also at the University of Cambridge, both projects involving major intervention within historic Grade I listed buildings. He has also been involved with the implementation of the development at Old Church Street in Chelsea, a development which includes a new Church Hall and residential accommodation within a conservation area in the historic heart of Chelsea. He has also been responsible for the implementation of the architectural design Code at Fairford Leys in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire and the completion of the Dickens Heath Masterplan at Solihull. He is a fellow of the Faculty of Building and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. He is also responsible for Health and Safety issues and is Director of Simpson & Co. Ltd, an associate company offering services including Principal Designer (formerly CDM) and Party Wall Surveying.

Joanna Wachowiak joined the practice in 1994, becoming a Project Architect working on the West Range of Gonville Court at Gonville and Caius College, University of Cambridge, a £6m project involving new student and fellows' accommodation, the refurbishment of the senior Combination Room, JCR, College Bar, Hall, Servery and kitchens in the Grade I Listed historic core of the College. She later worked on the new Market Hall Building in Poundbury, completed in 2000, which comprised of a multi-purpose hall and market building in the Main Square in Phase I.

In 2000, as an Associate in the practice, she was responsible for the work at the Queen's Gallery at Buckingham Palace, a £22m contract involving new galleries for The Royal Collection at Buckingham Palace, a Grade I Listed building. The project included new educational facilities, lecture hall, shop, and additional, digital gallery facilities.

In 2002, as Associate Director, she became responsible for the project at 68 Vincent Square, an £18m residential development in a conservation area involving two Grade II Listed Buildings, and for the Carhart Mansion in Manhattan, New York. She was also responsible for the redevelopment project at the Royal Worcester Porcelain Works in Worcester, a £20m mixed-use development, involving Listed buildings in a conservation area, and for the refurbishment and new buildings at Peterhouse, Cambridge, a £9m project involving new student and Fellows' accommodation, and associated facilities at the College.

As a Director, Joanna’s subsequent work has included the new masterplans for Kensington Palace and Eton College, both nominated for numerous awards. She currently heads the John Simpson Architects design team for the Defence and National Rehabilitation Centre, the 40,000 sqm development within the curtilage of the Grade II* Listed Stanford Hall.

Prior to joining the Practice, she worked for Wisniewski and Gorgul Architects and Urban Designers in Poland on the urban plan for the Lagiewniki area of Lodz. After coming to England, she worked for Alan Baxter & Associates on the masterplan for Poundbury, before joining John Simpson Architects in 1994. Joanna is also involved in teaching and has worked as a tutor at The Prince of Wales's Summer School in London, Chinon and Viterbo.

Over the years John’s built work has achieved a number of design awards. Recently, he received an international Charter Award (Congress for the New Urbanism), RTPI Award for Best Regeneration Project in the UK and RICS Award for Best Regeneration Project in Northern Ireland.

Recent project experience with the Practice includes the coordination of the design of the prestigious £300m Defence and National Rehabilitation Centre (DNRC), Loughborough. Planning permission was delivered effectively through a sensitive approach to the design of infill and new-build structures adjacent to the listed Stanford Hall which is set within a protected landscape.

John is Northern Ireland Advisor to the Prince’s Foundation for Building Community which teaches and demonstrates sustainable development, placing community engagement at the heart of its work. He is a founder and Board member of INTBAU Ireland (International Network for Traditional Building Architecture and Urbanism), an all-Ireland chapter of the organisation. John is also Director of the Belfast Buildings Trust.

Tiffany is a graduate of the University of Miami School of Architecture and the University of Notre Dame Graduate School of Architecture. Her Master's thesis concentrated on the rehabilitation of the San Isidro neighbourhood in Havana, Cuba and was completed under the supervision of Michael Lykoudis, Dean of the University of Notre Dame and Victor Deupi, the former Arthur Ross Director of Education for the Institute of Classical Architecture & Art (ICAA). She received a Tinker Pre-Dissertation Award 2002-2003 from the Kellogg Institute for International Studies at the University of Notre Dame for her ‘sensitivity and ambition to examine the social concerns and policies in such a complex region' for her proposal in Havana. Subsequently, she was granted a fellowship under Robin Rhodes, Associate Professor of Art History and concurrent Associate Professor of Architecture to study the Seventh Century Temple on Temple Hill in Ancient Corinth, Greece in 2003. Having moved to London to work for Porphyrios Associates, she joined the practice in early 2004. In 2005 she became an Associate of the practice as well as receiving the inaugural Rieger-Graham Prize from the ICAA. Tiffany completed her Rome Prize Fellowship in 2006 and was made Principal Associate in 2007.

Tiffany has worked on many projects for the practice, including the Carhart Mansion on East 95th Street and the interior renovation of The Stanhope into 26 custom-designed residences in New York. She was the project coordinator for the new masterplan at Lady Margaret Hall, University of Oxford, the construction of which is in progress for Phase II. While finishing her postgraduate diploma at the AA in 2014, she spent six months at Purcell working on the restoration of Battersea Power Station before returning to her role as Design Coordinator for the masterplan and new buildings for the School of Architecture at the University of Notre Dame. She was made Director of US Projects at John Simpson Architects in 2014.

Victoria joined the practice after graduating in 2006 and has worked as Project Co-ordinator for the masterplanning of a new 73-acre urban development in Dublin. With a keen eye for detail and an aptitude for meticulous organisation, she acted as Job Manager for the masterplanning of Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, and for the design of the £8m Pipe Partridge Building at the College. Victoria is currently the Associate in charge of the second phase of Lady Margaret Hall which is under construction and will provide new main entrance and buildings including a Graduate Centre and Porter’s Lodge. She has worked on a range of other projects for the Practice including the re-presentation of Kensington Palace, a prestigious private residence in Knightsbridge and for the new building in Gisborne Court at Peterhouse, Cambridge.

In 2012, Victoria was made an Associate, and was responsible for the construction phase of the work at Eton College, Windsor. The £19m new McCrum Yard was opened by HRH Prince of Wales in June 2015.

Following the recent award of the competition for the Royal College of Music, Victoria has been made the Associate Director in charge of the new courtyard development.

Victoria oversees the maintenance of the practice’s quality assurance procedures for ISO9001, the environmental management (ISO 14001) and occupational health and safety (OHSAS 18001) management systems. She is also the CPD coordinator for the Practice.

After gaining his BA Robert worked for a year in India with Vastu Shilpa Consultants at Sangath (Balkrishna Doshi) under Rajeev Kathpalia. Robert has extensive classical experience having also worked for Julian Bicknell and Robert Adam. He also studied at the summer school of the American Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Fontainbleau.

Robert joined John Simpson Architects in 2009 and since then has been involved in many of the practice’s major projects including Kensington Palace and Eton College and he worked as the project coordinator for a large private apartment in St James’s, London. Made an Associate in 2013, he acted as Project Coordinator for the Defence and National Rehabilitation Centre through its planning stages.

Robert was made an Associate Director in 2014 and he is the Associate in charge of the £34m redevelopment of the University Arms Hotel, Cambridge.