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Notes from the drawing table.
Essays, site lessons and material finds from the studio. Written by the people who draw the buildings, not a marketing team.
Felix Haddad
October 2026 · 6 min read
Featured essay
Designing for the second winter
Anyone can love a new house in June. We judge our work by how it feels after the novelty has gone and the days are short.
Every autumn we go back to the homes we finished the year before. We don't go to photograph them. We go to ask what the families have stopped noticing, what they work around and which room they gravitate to after dark. The answers are rarely about the things that appeared in the planning drawings.
Low sun is the real client
In December the sun barely clears the neighbouring roofs. A window that floods a room with light in summer can leave it grey for months. That is why we model the winter solstice first: if the kitchen table gets an hour of direct sun at lunchtime in midwinter, the rest of the year looks after itself.
Warm edges, not just warm rooms
People don't sit in the middle of rooms; they sit at the edges, next to windows and walls. So we spend time on the places where bodies meet the building: a deep window seat with insulation behind it, a timber sill instead of cold stone, a radiator placed where you actually stand to talk. These are cheap decisions that change how a house feels every single evening.
Somewhere for the wet coats
The most requested change in our return visits is never glamorous. It is a better place to drop boots, dry coats and park a pram. Now every Oriel house starts with a generous, ventilated entrance zone — and nobody has asked us to change one since.
If you are planning a project, try this: describe your worst winter evening in the current house. It is the most useful brief you can give an architect.
Studio notes
Small lessons, written down.
Materials
Sep 2026
Why we keep specifying lime
Lime plaster lets old walls breathe, softens echo and takes a beautiful, uneven light. It costs a little more and needs a skilled plasterer, but it ends damp problems that modern gypsum often makes worse.
Process
Aug 2026
We still sketch by hand first
A pencil on tracing paper is faster than software and, crucially, looks unfinished. Clients feel free to cross things out, which is exactly the conversation we want in the first weeks.
Light
Jul 2026
Design the shadows too
A room with even light everywhere feels flat. We plan where the darker, quieter corners fall — a reading chair, a bed head — so bright spaces have something to contrast with.
Free first conversation
Replies within two working days
Let's draw your next room.
Bring a plot, a floor plan or just a frustration with the way your home works. We'll tell you honestly what's possible and what it might cost.
Oriel
A short letter from the studio, once a month.
New projects, material finds and the odd lesson learned on site. No sales emails.
Oriel
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