About Theme2 Architects

Precision design for London homes

We know how much your home cost to buy. Every change we make has to add to it.

Bright white living room with built-in shelving and a stove in a long low bench at Lordship Park

Spend to gain, not to stand still

When we take on a refurbishment or an extension, we start with a close analysis of the existing house and look for the opportunities it already has. Then we build on them, so the old and the new each get the most from the other. We often find room, space and storage that aren’t obvious at first.

We call this precision design: every part of the building, from the square centimetre to the square metre, is made to work hard.

All new work should protect your investment by adding amenity. A new kitchen has to do more than the one it replaces, with more storage, more worktop and a better connection to the room around it. An extension has to make the rest of the house better too, so we use high-level clerestory glazing to turn rooms that would have been left dark into bright, uplifting spaces.

We don’t have a house style. We listen, develop your ideas with you, and advise on what’s necessary, what’s desirable and what’s possible. The aim is always calm, contemporary, beautiful and practical.

Interior of the Albion Drive extension in Hackney, shortlisted for the RIBA London Awards

Francis Sumner

Francis Sumner founded Theme2 Architects after many years with internationally renowned practices.

In Paris he worked for Renzo Piano, winner of the Pritzker Prize. Back in the UK, he spent ten years at Aukett Europe, on the design and delivery team for the Bedfont Lakes office park.

He then spent more than ten years at Wilkinson Eyre, twice winners of the Stirling Prize, delivering buildings including Audi’s West London headquarters beside the M4 and the extension and refurbishment of the Empress State Building in Earl’s Court.