COMMUNITY
We work with a wide range of partners, associates and collaborators who share our vision and perspective, bringing their specialisms, skills and expertise to every project. We’re seeking people who want to collaborate with us on projects that will restore places to be the best they can be, for your needs today and future generations. Whether it’s your home, business or organisation.
Architecture Making Community: Fire pit for Little Eden - live build with Falmouth University Architecture Students
Connected Communities : Penryn - community consultation for Penryn Town Team with Falmouth University Architecture Students
Digital Heritage: Penryn Museum
Transient Parish © image: Artur Tixiliski - Liminal at Goonhilly Village Green
At the start of the Upcycle Kernow build with contractor Social Constructs
Upcycle Kernow: Initial design consultation
Frances Crow
A RIBA Chartered Architect with 25 years in the industry, Frances formed Crow Architecture in 2022 with a clear goal: to help people navigate their own regenerative development projects and tackle our changing climate in the process.
Through her work as an architect, researcher and academic over the past two decades, Frances has developed a deep-rooted interest in the conservation of land and buildings – whether they have heritage value, are under-used or redundant, or need adapting to better serve the environment around them.
Frances is in the process of becoming a RIBA Conservation Registrant, the first step in consolidating her heritage experience by an industry recognised body. She sits on a number of advisory and steering groups for organisations with responsibility for significant heritage assets, including the Diocesan of Truro, Carclew, a Grade II* Palladian Villa on the Heritage at Risk Register and the Penryn Museum Society.
She is a certified Retrofit Coordinator and was amongst the first cohort to complete the AECB CarbonLite Retrofit Coordination course and the follow on ABBE Level 5 Diploma in Retrofit Coordination and Risk Assessment.
She is a Design Review Panel member for Design West who manage Design Reviews for the South West of England.
A Loose Collective
Crow Architecture is part of a loose collective of architectural and design practices that work together on projects defined by the scale, time or specific expertise required.
Collaborative communities
We’re seeking people who want to collaborate with us on projects that will restore places to be the best they can be, for your needs today and future generations. Whether it’s your home, business or organisation.
We use participatory design in all our projects, everything from light-touch conversations, sketching or making models for small scale projects, to more hands-on workshops, actions or events for projects with a larger group of users.
Communities we work with include Upcycle Kernow and Loveland, Penryn Museum Society, Stoke Climsland Old School, Sancreed Village Hall and Art Centre Penryn
Research
We’re actively involved in research and knowledge exchange partnerships and have worked with the immersive technology group at Plymouth University’s Entrepreneurial Futures programme, Architecture at Falmouth University and Immersive Business. Frances Crow was also a research fellow at Falmouth University SWCTN South West Creative Technology Network.
We research the opportunities that digital technologies can offer for the preservation and communication of our heritage environments. We focus on the ways these technologies can offer opportunities for participation in design, creating stronger communities as projects move forward from virtual ideas through to the reality on the ground.
Mentoring and internships
At Crow Architecture, we support and develop people who are interested in working to build a better environment.
We provide work placements and internships as a stepping stone into the profession and in 2022 had our first work placement student from St. Peter’s School, Exeter. We have taken on interns through the Falmouth University Realworks and their micro-internship scheme and RIBA Foundation in Architecture course run by Oxford Brookes University.
We have also provided mentoring through the RIBA student mentoring scheme and Cultivator for their Specialist Mentoring programme.
If you’re interested in working with us, get in touch to find out more.
Business and Funding
Crow Architecture is a Falmouth University, Launchpad Associate Business and has received business support from Plymouth University’s ERDF funded Acceleration Through Innovation programme and Falmouth University and University of Exeter’s Immersive Business programme. Crow Architecture has also received funding from Cornwall Council’s ERDF Superfast 3 Inclusive Growth Cornwall programme.