Extract from entry in Dictionary of Architecture, Compiled by Professor James Stevens Curl, Oxford University Press.

      “English architect.  Having rejected International Modernism he sought to show how the classical language of architecture could be used in contemporary economic, technical and functional requirements.  His work is derived largely from Georgian sources and he made his name with Ashfold House in West Sussex (1991), influenced by Soane’s architecture.

      Simpson had considerable influence in making the public aware of the New Classicism in the 1980s, especially with the exhibition Real Architecture at the Building Centre, London (1988).  His works at Gonville and Caius College, at the University of Cambridge (1994-98), have added lustre to his reputation.  In 2000, his Market Building, the first public building at the Prince of Wales’s Development in Poundbury, was completed.  In 1999 his firm won the competition to redevelop the Queen’s Galleries and Royal Kitchens at Buckingham Palace, London which was completed in time for the opening of The Queen’s Golden Jubilee Celebration in 2002.  Since then the practice has been commissioned to carry out work in the USA and is currently working on two buildings on the upper East side of Manhattan on 5th Avenue in New York.  The first to be completed in July 2005 has been described by the Landmarks Commission of New York as the first Traditionally Classical Building to be built in the city since the 1960’s and for which he was awarded the Palladio prize in 2007."

      John Simpson has been eminent in the Urban Design field, first coming to prominence with his design for Paternoster Square in the City of London in the early 1990’s. Since then, he has become the master planner for several new mixed use urban extensions in England, currently being built, such as Fairford Leys in Aylesbury for the Ernest Cook Trust.  At present, he is adviser to Solihull Metropolitan Council for the new village at Dickens Heath.  He also prepared the masterplan for Newcastle Great Park in Newcastle Upon Tyne and the new mixed use urban extension to Swindon, known as the Swindon Southern Development Area.

      John Simpson pioneered mixed use sustainable urban design long before it was adopted as government policy in the UK and his work appears within government best practice guidance documentation such as “Places, Streets and Movement”. He has also pioneered the idea of design codes for establishing quality in design which he first applied at Fairford Leys in Aylesbury. He has worked on design codes as part of the pilot study for Design Codes run for The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) by the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE).

      In 2004, he won the competition to design a masterplan and new buildings for Peterhouse, the oldest college at the University of Cambridge, and in 2005, he won a similar competition for his masterplan design proposals for new graduate and undergraduate facilities at Lady Margaret Hall at the University of Oxford.
      In 2008 he was given the Arthur Ross Award by the Institute of Classical Architecture in New York.

      Much of his work has involved working with new buildings designed within sensitive historic settings and with Listed Buildings in conservation areas.  Many of these buildings are Grade I listed.

The following awards have been accumulated over recent years:

      Joanna Wachowiak joined John Simpson and Partners in 1994, becoming a Project Architect working on the West Range of Gonville Court at Gonville and Caius College, University of Cambridge, a £6m project involving new student and fellows’ accommodation, the refurbishment of the senior Combination Room, JCR, College bar, hall, servery and kitchens in the Grade I Listed historic core of the College.  She later worked on the Market Hall Building in Poundbury, completed in 2000, comprising a multi-purpose Hall and a market building in the main square in phase I.

      In 2000, as an Associate in the practice, she became responsible for the work at the Queen’s Gallery at Buckingham Palace, a £22m contract involving galleries for The Royal Collection at Buckingham Palace, a Grade I Listed Building.  The project also involved providing an education facility, a new lecture hall and an electronic gallery facility.

      In 2002, as Associate Director, she became responsible for the project at 68 Vincent Square, an £18m residential development in a conservation area, involving two Grade II Listed Buildings, and for the Carhart Mansion Building in Manhattan, New York.  She is also responsible for the redevelopment project at the Royal Worcester Porcelain Works in Worcester, a £20m mixed use development, involving Listed Buildings in a conservation area, and for the refurbishment and new building works at Peterhouse, Cambridge, a £9m project involving new student and Fellows’ accommodation, and associated facilities at the College.

      Prior to joining the Practice, she worked for Wisniewski and Gorgul Architects and Urban Designers in Poland on the urban plan for the Lagiewniki area of Lodz.  After coming to England, she worked for Alan Baxter & Associates on the masterplan for Poundbury, before joining John Simpson and Partners in 1994.  Joanna is also involved in teaching and has worked as a tutor at The Prince of Wales’s Summer School in London, Chinon and Viterbo.

View of new Market Hall Building at Poundbury

B.Arch, University of Miami, Coral Gables , Florida, USA & Rome, Italy M.Arch, University of Notre Dame , South Bend, Indiana , USA & Rome, Italy Affiliated Fellow at the American Academy in Rome , Rome, Italy The Institute of Classical Architecture & Classical America, Supporting Member The Prince's Foundation Professional Fellow Born 28th July, 1979

Diploma in Architecture. The Silesian University of Technology, Faculty of Architecture and Urban Design Born 22nd August 1978

As the Diploma in Architecture is taught in conjunction with other university departments, including the faculty of Civil Engineering, Department of Mathematics and Physics and the Department of Engineering, graduates receive the qualification of Master of Engineering.