Francis-Jones Carpenter (fjcstudio)is a multi-disciplinary Australian design studio established in 2002 and noted for design excellence and a commitment to enhancing the public realm. fjcstudio has a reputation as an ideas-driven practice "with an agenda for strong public engagement and masterful resolution of tectonics"[1] and the firm's work demonstrates "an extraordinary ability to uncover the real and often contradictory issues and potentials of a project by a very careful analysis of purpose and place".[2]
Led by design director Richard Francis-Jones, Fjcstudio offers services in architecture, interior design, landscape architecture and urban design.[3]
On 3 April 2023 FJMT was renamed as Francis-Jones Carpenter, with two Studio Principals; Design Director, Richard Francis-Jones and Managing Principal, Elizabeth Carpenter.[4][5]
FJMT originated in the Canberra-based practice of Mitchell/Giurgola & Thorp (MGT). In 2002, partners Richard Francis-Jones, Jeff Morehen and Richard Thorp established fjmt following a restructure of MGT Sydney. Richard Thorp retired from the partnership in 2009. The practice also established an office in Oxford, England.[6]
In 2014, ORO Editions published a monograph of the studio's work titled Architecture as Material Culture.[7]
fjmt explored ideas of urban form and topographic placemaking, sustainable approaches to local climatic conditions, and tectonic expression. Adopting a collaborative approach, fjmt's carefully designed spaces respect their historical, natural and social contexts. [citation needed]
It is this sensitivity to place that “sets the work of fjmt apart... [it is] their particular commitment to the creation of urban form; one which is focused to an equal degree about the axial pathways of the pre-existing civic fabric and the topography of the attendant landscape.” [citation needed]
Working from a standpoint of architecture being “first and foremost a structural assembly and a craftwork of socio-cultural significance”, fjmt's work rejects fleeting notions of fashion and architecture-as-commodity. “…It is [the] commitment to an investment in time - to think, to reflect and to respond - that imbues fjmt’s projects with a sense of considered intent and positions the work as significant within the public realm.” [citation needed]
“Architecture does not move at speed, as any of us know who have tried to make architecture. Architecture is slow… [An] authentic contemporary architecture should not only attempt to somehow begin to reconcile humanity’s place in the world but also be directed towards rejuvenating, repoliticising our desiccated public realm. We should pursue an architecture appropriate to citizens rather than consumers.” [citation needed]
^Heneghan, T. (May–June 2006). "Max Webber Library". Architecture Australia. 95 (3): 86–95. Archived from the original on 2011-07-23. Retrieved 2010-12-01.
^Architecture as Material Culture Frampton, Kenneth (2014). Architecture as material culture : the work of Francis-Jones Morehen Thorp (First ed.). [San Francisco]: ORO editions. ISBN978-1935935148.
