What we do

At Strain Engineering, we approach all our projects with Free Minds, willing to expand our horizons through new and unexpected challenges.

We are not the biggest team in the world but with 12 people we like to think we are small yet perfectly formed - large enough to have a wide range of skills but small enough to adapt to whatever challenges may come our way.  Our extensive network of contacts through industry also allows our knowledge to be greater than the sum of its parts.

Our specialist knowledge base draws on expertise from different industries, starting with lightweight structures (metallurgy and glass technology), car and yacht building (composites and glues), to more traditional construction techniques such as structural concrete and blockwork.

For us there are three key ingredients of any successful project - it should be beautiful, commercially viable and ultimately buildable.  We aim to make this happen using three sources:

Contemporary Knowledge · Our breadth of knowledge is vast, and we keep abreast of a diverse variety of state-of-the-art design methodologies, materials science and fabrication techniques.  Of course, no-one can possibly know everything, so when the circumstances arise, we seek out more specialist knowledge to assimilate.

Research & Testing · When we run out of existing knowledge (as often happens when one pushes boundaries), we resort to our own materials research.  This can start with as little as an educated guess and carrying it through to virtual and physical testing at our in-house facilities.  We also publish our findings in papers to share the knowledge with the wider industry.

Prototyping · We believe that the process of building is an essential learning experience for any ground-breaking construction techniques.  For this reason, we like to build full-scale prototypes as proof of concept (it’s also great fun!)  While prototypes are used as an exemplar against which the quality of the final work is judged, the most important aspect is the knowledge gained through the building process. This knowledge is concurrently fed back into the design process to make any final modifications before being passed to a fabricator.

Like any good homo-sapiens, an essential part of our work is undertaken using tools.  Ours are state-of-the-art, and while some are off-the-shelf, others we have modified or even formulated from scratch.  They include, amongst others, parametric and generative modelling, free-form surface meshing, finite element modelling, building physics modelling but perhaps most importantly – the humble pencil and paper.  While these tools can be very specialist, lightweight versions are used at the conceptual stages of a project to inform the design direction.

Despite the diminutive size of our team, it’s what we do that counts and we have had the privilege of working with some of the most prestigious architects of our time: Arata Isozaki, Cesar Pelli, Jean Nouvel, Norman Foster, Rafael de la Hoz, Ricard Bofill, Richard Rogers and Toyolto, to name a few.  Our numerous works can be found across the globe and include hotel enclosures, office buildings, residential buildings, atriums, canopies, domes, and monuments.