Whether it’s cabins for surfers in Liberia, a skate park in a church or a sawmill for creating planks from storm-felled trees, 9×5 Architects will take it on. Its director, Tom McAviney, spoke to Emily Moore
HE might have thought of himself as a hardy traveller but, as Tom McAviney lay on a concrete bed in a concrete room, watching the snakes, lizards and jumping spiders make their way across the floor, he realised just how comfortable his previous trips had been.
But, as the director of 9X5 Architects explained, that eye-opening experience had never been intended to be a holiday and, despite the slightly disconcerting wildlife with whom he shared his room, it is a trip on which he looks back with great fondness.
“Liberia is an incredibly poor country, which still bears the scars of the two civil wars, the last of which finished just over 20 years ago,” Tom explained. “It has no tourism infrastructure whatsoever, and all its residents are engaged in earning enough money to make ends meet each day.
“I had never been to a country like that before, but my trip was funded by Jersey Overseas Aid from its professional-skills bursary, and I was there to support a project led by a Canadian charity called Universal Outreach Foundation to develop some land, owned by a surf club, into accommodation which people would be able to pay to stay in.”
Inspired both by his own love of surfing and the philanthropic nature of the initiative, Tom volunteered his services on a pro-bono basis, offering to work with a Liberian builder to draw up some designs.
“That was a project which was particularly close to my heart, as the poverty in Liberia is incredible and the benefits that this small-scale surf tourism centre could bring to the community are tremendous,” said Tom, who added that he was hoping to return to the country next year to see how work on the “series of self-contained cabins” was progressing.
That focus on projects with a strong community or sustainability element underpins much of the work that Tom has undertaken since launching his own practice last summer. And it is an approach which, as the former Victoria College student explains, has been very much shaped by his almost accidental journey into architecture.
“Before a school trip to London when I was 16 or 17, I thought my career would be very much an extension of my school days, perhaps working in the library of a law firm, which is where I’d done some work experience,” he said with a smile.
But that trip contained the “boom moment” which banished all thoughts of a law-based career.
“We looked at a lot of historic and contemporary buildings, and visited a number of art galleries and museums,” he recalled. “But it was at the British Museum, looking at Cornelia Parker’s piece of work called Cold Dark Matter: An Exploded View that I had that boom moment, that moment where I thought ‘Wow, this looks like fun’ and I could see an option which would really allow me to enjoy life while working.”
In some ways, the artwork – which features the themes of explosion, destruction and recreation – may seem like a strange source of inspiration. But, for a teenage Tom, seeing that installation was like getting a glimpse into a new world.
“Prior to that, I thought art was just paint on canvas,” he said. “But this blown-up shed, with its contents rearranged, showed me how varied the art world is, and led me to do a deep dive into abstract art, a dive which led me to architecture. While the packaging in abstract art and architecture is very different, the creativity involved is very similar.”
And it was not just the shed installation which made an impression on Tom during that trip.
“I remember being struck by the buildings, and they still inspire me today,” he said. “Every year, I take a trip just to walk around and look at the buildings and galleries. I’m probably a bit of an architectural nerd, walking around housing estates just to look at the different materials and styles of building.”
Of course, shaping the construction of many estates and public buildings now is the growing sustainability agenda, something to which Tom first became exposed while studying for his degree in the Welsh capital.
“At that point, Cardiff University was about 20 years ahead of the game when it came to sustainability,” he reflected. “As the tutors explained why they thought it represented the future of architecture, I saw how much their views aligned with my values, which were very much shaped by the love of nature and surfing I had grown up with.”
And it also explains why, despite finding inspiration in London – where he lived for ten years between graduating and returning to Jersey – he has always felt more at home designing community spaces than skyscrapers.
“Living and working in London was brilliant because you can just immerse yourself fully in architecture,” he said. “It is also a multicultural city, so you have the opportunity to work on project teams with people from across the world, which is great both socially and for seeing different design perspectives.”
Working for a firm with a strong social focus, Tom’s horizons broadened quickly, with assignments including social housing and community centres designed for people who were either homeless or who had recently been released from prison.
It was a fascinating decade but one which, as Tom explained, came to a natural end when the city was plunged into lockdown in 2020.
“At that point, we lived on the 17th floor of an apartment block and our first child was just learning to walk,” he said. “Our friends in Jersey were enjoying barbecues and two hours of freedom each day and we decided it was time to return to the Island.”
After working for a local company for three years, Tom opened 9X5 Architects in July, bringing to fruition a long-held dream.
“I think most architects dream of having their own practice, and last year I felt that I had enough experience of navigating projects and had built up enough contacts in the wider industry to give it a go,” he said.
And the first ten months have, he says, certainly been varied.
“When I launched the business, I expected to be designing lots of home extensions, but I’ve been thrilled to work on some community-based projects, including one which sounded totally infeasible when it was first presented to me,” he said.
That challenge, he continued, was to convert a former Methodist church in St Ouen into an indoor skate park.
“It all started when a neighbour popped round and asked whether I was interested in a small, private job,” Tom recalled. “I wondered which part of her house she wanted to expand and then she began outlining this idea to install a skate park in the former church. The more she spoke, the wider my eyes became but we chipped away at the idea and eventually obtained planning permission for the scheme.”
A similarly unexpected project, this one triggered by Storm Ciarán, is in much earlier stages.
“The idea is to set up a sawmill and education centre, where tree surgeons can take the timber from the trees felled during the storm and create planks or furniture from it,” Tom explained. “The space would also be used to train the tree surgeons and furniture makers of the future, developing further skills in the Island.”
With historic barn conversions and the creation of a Passivhaus home also among the projects either in the pipeline or recently completed, Tom’s work has certainly been diverse.
“Each project is different but each one has been selected for the reason behind it,” he said. “Whether it has a sustainability focus or a social purpose, I am keen to get involved with initiatives which benefit the end users or the community. In each case, I look at the end goal and see what the project will achieve and what the vision behind it is.”
And that is not the only vision which Tom aims to support. Through his innovative use of technology, clients can visualise the end result much more clearly by using virtual and augmented reality.
“I first started using VR because it was a fun way of presenting my ideas but I quickly realised the benefit that this technology had for clients,” he said. “While architects are fluent in reading two-dimensional floor plans, for people who are unfamiliar with these designs, it can be difficult to get a true feel for the development from that plan.
“As a result, it isn’t until the building is complete that they truly appreciate the scale or position of something. By using virtual reality, though, you can show them the three-dimensional model and they can walk around and experience the light, height and views.
“So far, we’ve used the technology to help ArtHouse Jersey to visualise the way that pieces in their exhibitions can be displayed, and also to show a client the designs for a private residence. It went down really well because, in each case, the people involved felt as though they were in the exhibition or the property respectively.”
This technology, while effective, is not that only way that the Digital Jersey member is bringing new ideas to the architectural space.
“One thing that has really struck me in Jersey is that everyone has a view on any design which is proposed and, quite often, those proposals are met with aggression,” he said. “In some cases, this may be appropriate but often it is just a default reaction, which could probably be avoided if more people were involved in the design process.
“There is a large community of creatives and people who use different places in the Island and if we learnt how to harness their ideas and draw them in, I think they would be excited, rather than angry, when proposals for new developments were presented.
“In this vein, about two years ago, I started a sketch club, initially for architects but now open to anyone. These meetings take place once a month in The Merchants [coffee shop] and the uptake has been brilliant and has shown just how many people are interested in creative arts. Although it started for fun, thanks to the club, I have already met artists and sculptors who are now getting involved in architectural initiatives and Percentage for Art schemes, which is fantastic.
“It really shows the value of getting to know who’s out there, building those links and getting people involved in these community projects.”
