Chris Hildrey is a London-based architect who uses his work to challenge architecture’s ‘inability to translate qualitative value to a market based on the quantitative’. His view is that architects must diversify the application of their skills towards a broader definition of architectural practice, one that can also effect positive change for the most vulnerable in society.
Hildrey’s year as Designer in Residence at London’s Design Museum (2017-2018) allowed him to create ProxyAddress, an ongoing project that uses local data to provide homeless people with stable addresses in order to access vital services. The project is currently moving towards live trials in London with a number of partners across the financial, postal, and public sectors.
Hildrey has also been Project Architect for the National History Museum Grounds Project (Niall McLaughlin Architects, 2014-2018), rejuvenating, expanding and bringing educational themes into the museum’s expansive surroundings.
The prevailing message in Hildrey’s work is that he refuses to settle for the traditional systems within architectural practice; instead radically re-imagining cities as environments that place learning and social responsibility at their forefronts.