Fashion Architecture Taste or FAT is an art and architecture collaborative studio that first established itself in the 1990s in London, England. The studio is directed by three of Britain's architects and designers: Sean Griffiths, Charles Holland and Sam Jacob, whom are the main members of the group and whom are committed to developing architectural culture both through practice and through design research at institutions including Yale and the Architectural Association. Emma Somerset Davis has been a previous member and a director of the group and lead artist collaborating on FAT's art exhibitions and projects over ten years. Their work falls broadly under the postmodern category with pop-culture influences.
They have been influenced by Robert Venturi, Situationists, Mannerism, the Arts and Crafts movement, Archigram, and Jeff Koons. They "steal copy, collage and make overt references to all kinds of high and low architecture; reusing, rescaling, recolouring; remaking their sources in the wrong materials," with their first projects being redesigns of interiors such as the Brunel Rooms nightclub in Swindon (1995) where a running track, swimming pool, garden shed and lounge were added. One of Fat's director's, Sean Griffiths, built a house in baby blue with cutout wall shapes and artful references to Edwin Lutyens, Adolf Loos, and Robert Venturi.
Left to right: Sean Griffiths, Charles Holland and Sam Jacob.
Team:
Sean Griffiths is a director and co-founder of FAT. He has extensive project experience across numerous sectors including housing, education, leisure, arts, transport and masterplanning. Sean is currently leading FAT's team on CIAC, a 80 unit residential scheme forming the first phase of Riverside One in Middlesbrough which is the UK's largest zero carbon development. He previously worked on the delivery of the St Lucas Art Academy in the Netherlands and the Blue House in East London. Sean is highly respected amongst his peers and is a prolific contributor to architectural debate through lectures, symposia and papers. Sean is also active in academia, and along with his fellow directors, is the Louis I Kahn Visiting Professor of Architecture at Yale University.
Charles Holland is a registered Architect and a director of Fat. He has been the principal in charge of a number of the practice's most high profile projects including the Islington Square housing development in Manchester, the Meals restaurant and tea shop in Heal's and the award winning cycle surveillance building in The Hague. Most recently Charles has led Fat's team on the redesign of Thornton Heath Library in South London and the Paradise Pavilion, part of the Stirling Prize shortlisted Liverpool 1 redevelopment. Charles has taught and lectured widely, both in the UK and abroad and is currently a Visiting Professor at Yale University and a design tutor at the Canterbury School of Architecture. He writes about architecture and design for a number of magazines and edits Fantastic Journal, a blogsite about Architecture, Design and Other Things Too.
Sam Jacob is a founding director of FAT, architect, writer and critic. He has most recently been the partner in charge of the Hoogvliet Heerlijkheid project in Holland a park, cultural centre and community facilities completed in October '08 and developed in collaboration with WiMBY! The project explores ideas of Pop, populism and participation which form the basis of an architectural approach intended to explore the role of architecture as communicative device, programmatic agglomeration and social condenser. The project was shortlisted for a World Architecture Award. Jacob has taught and lectured at universities in Europe and the US most recently as the Louis I Kahn Professor of Architecture at Yale in 2007. Other positions include post-graduate unit master at the University of Westminster, the Architectural Association and University of Greenwich.
Jacob is a frequent contributor to public architectural debate through regular lectures and symposia. He writes "Strangeharvest.com" and is architecture editor of Contemporary, a columnist for the Architects Journal, and contributes to magazines and journals including Metalocus, Icon, Art Review, Frieze, Metropolis and Log. Jacob is currently completing a PhD at the Center for Research Architecture at Goldsmiths College London.
