Sammy-Jo is now a registered Architect!
After a year’s worth of study through the University of Bath, Sammy-Jo has passed her Part 3 examination to become a registered Architect! We’re proud to be a workers’ co-operative that supports and enables members to pursue training opportunities. Sammy-Jo has been working hard for this qualification alongside working on several projects at T/D. She has now got the architect qualification on top of her Passivhaus Designer and Retrofit Coordinator qualifications, making her well-rounded and suited to take on projects across a range of areas.
Sammy-Jo will continue to lead on our retrofit and design work at T/D, and we look forward to seeing her excel with this new title.
We’re designing a new regenerative village with Bowden Pillars Future in collaboration with Incremental Architecture!
We are delighted to announce that Transition by Design, in collaboration with Incremental Architecture + Urbanism, has been successfully appointed to work with Bowden Pillars Future on the design for a Regenerative Village near Totnes.
This project is deeply aligned with our values. As two of only six co-ops UK certified architecture cooperatives, we bring a genuinely collaborative, sociocratic ethos. We are now working closely with the Bowden Pillars Future core team, learning alongside them and ‘living the questions’ as we begin the co-design process for a community of 50 ultra-low carbon homes.
Central to the vision is a commitment that at least half the homes will be affordable, integrated within a living village-farm-food economy. The design will foster a multigenerational community built upon a foundation of shared spaces, shared resources, and a shared purpose.
To ensure this regenerative design is core to our way of working; it aims not just to do less harm, but to actively improve the health of ecosystems and communities. Our methodology involves understanding a place’s unique essence—its geological, hydrological, and biological layers, alongside its social and cultural dimensions. This becomes the “north star” guiding the village.
Our combined experience in community-led housing, net-zero carbon design, and hands-on work with natural materials informs our approach. We are committed to a participatory process, proposing intensive on-site workshops to ensure the design is genuinely co-created, inclusive, and transformative for all involved.
We look forward to sharing this collaborative journey with you.
(Picture below is taken from a recent weekend of workshops with the Bowden Pillars Future Village team)
Wongani speaking at RIBA Guerilla Tactics 2025
On the 5th November, Wongani got to speak about ‘Radical practice: Transforming architecture through cooperatives’ RIBA’s annual flagship conference ‘Guerilla Tactics’. There are many benefits, and of course challenges, to being a workers co-operative, but we do believe it can offer a truly regenerative & collaborative way of practicing architecture. It was great to share about benefits & challenges of being a worker’s co-op at Transition by Design Co-operative, including how all employees can become members and genuinely shape the organisation through democratic member control, how we enable autonomy and independence, encourage education & training and ensure that our core values are maintained through a concern for the community.
Wongani spoke alongside a great line-up of other architects & designers who are doing inspiring work across the country, and he especially enjoyed the panel discussion in the morning with Nicola Rutt Al Scott, Dr Kat Martindale & Hari Phillips and chaired by Tomas Millar.
If you are an architecture practice, or interested in becoming a coop, Cooperatives UK offer a business mentoring scheme, where we have previously supported two other architecture practices in their process of becoming a coop. You can get in touch with us directly or contact Cooperatives UK.
Official photography by Karla Gowlett Photography
Studio Life: Joyce’s Travels
In early October, Joyce travelled to Japan for the Setouchi Triennale 2025, an art festival spanning the islands of the Seto Inland Sea, with the theme “Restoring the Sea.” Sailing from island to island (cycling and eating plenty of seafood and treats from local cafés along the way!), Joyce visited installations and community projects that reimagine how art can nurture both people and ecosystems.
One of the many artworks is “The Walking Ark” by Keisuke Yamaguchi on Ojishima, as shown in the photo, which explores the delicate relationship between humans and the landscape.
Another highlight was the Art Home Project on Naoshima — In this project, artists and architects transform empty homes into works of art, weaving in the unique history and memories of the old buildings. The trip was a refreshing lesson in care, connection, and how creativity can help sustain places and communities. 🌊🚲🎨
Photo taken by Joyce
Studio Life: Wongani’s Travels
For the past three years Wongani and his family have chosen to travel to Sweden by rail. Mostly motivated by reducing our carbon emissions, but also to combat the reality that being in airports and flying with two young children is not the most enjoyable experience…
We are excited to share a piece he wrote for Eurail about their travels from Oxford to Sweden this past summer. They travelled across via Köln for a night then Hamburg using the night train to arrive in Stockholm within 48hrs. They then made a holiday out of our route back through Falkenberg, Copenhagen, Hamburg and Ghent. There are some beautiful scenes as you travel through this route.
Highlights included enjoying the many amazing playground & urban spaces that Copenhagen has to offer, a lovely time by the Swedish coast, a first time exploring Ghent with its fantastic architecture (definitely will go back in the future). Wongani also enjoyed visiting the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg too, fantastic transformation of the space by Herzog & de Meuron.
Photo taken by Wongani
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