Choral Studio

We are Andy Hilton and Prof Mohsen Aboutorabi, architects, urbanists and educators who in 2015 established a new boutique, ethical design studio based in Birmingham. Our work to date is largely based in china where we are closely linked to Urban Synthesis (奥本辛斯), a Chengdu based planning, architecture and landscape practice we formed in 2008, with most of our clients being Local Authorities or Planning Institutes. Our work is varied and generally covers the preliminary development and feasibility stages of urban regeneration, adaptive reuse, masterplanning, landscape and architectural projects across a diverse range of sectors, with our sister organisation or collaborative partners in China developing those projects to completion. We approach all our projects from an environmental emphasis and prioritise the criticality and reality of the climate emergency and the promotion of diverse socio-cultural identity in the urban realm. Research, criticality, learning, discussion and participation are central to our daily working methods an we pride ourselves on our client and user engagement, and work hard to promote an ecological discourse into all our relationships. Through rigorous multidisciplinary research we propose spaces, realms and interventions that are unique to place and time, and prioritise a sustainable approach to environmental, socio-economic and mental diversity to create rich, fertile and productive humanist landscapes. For us this is a continual project of learning, adapting and improving. Alongside our practice work we are proud to be closely linked with a number of educational institutions in the UK and China as both lecturers and collaborators. Mohsen and Andy also sit on a number of City Planning & Design panels as specialist urban advisors including the cities of Qujing, Zigong, Fuding, Baoji and others.