buildings capital gate scottish parliament building varyap grand meridian projects falkirk wheel islamabad masterplan mecca & medina masterplan hung hom station design khoo teck puat hospital zhuhai exhibition centre awards sterling award riba award civic trust award aia award website www.rmjm.com rmjm robert matthew johnson marshall is one of britain s largest international architecture and design firms . founded in 1956 by architects robert matthew and stirrat johnson marshall rmjm s first offices were based in london and edinburgh . rmjm provides services in sustainable design masterplanning urban design spatial planning landscape design arts consultancy historic preservation computer visualisation and interior design to a range of clients for a variety of sectors including mixed use education energy residential government and hospitality . 1 in its earlier years rmjm designed in a functional modern style with matthew and johnson marshall as strong proponents of the style in the united kingdom . today rmjm provides architecture master planning design and engineering consultancy services in several sectors . rmjm currently operates out of studios in edinburgh london new york city los angeles buenos aires cordoba la paz monterrey s o paulo dubai abu dhabi riyadh abu dhabi beirut tehran karachi shanghai shenzhen hong kong kuala lumpur tokyo istanbul ankara rome belgrade zurich nairobi mombasa pretoria kampala dar es salaam and gaborone . 2 in 2016 rmjm announced the creation of two pro studios with the capacity to provide sector specific services namely sport and healthcare . 3 contents 1 history 2 rmjm in middle east 2.1 pakistan 2.2 saudi arabia 2.3 the uae 3 rmjm in asia 4 rmjm in europe 5 rmjm in africa 6 rmjm in the america s 6.1 north america 6.2 central america 6.3 south america 7 rmjm initiatives 8 notable projects and awards 9 gallery 10 restructuring and new offices 11 references 12 external links history edit rmjm was founded by stirrat johnson marshall and robert matthew in 1956 . the partnership began following robert matthew s decision to hire johnson marshall to manage the new london office of his architecture practice which had been set up to oversee the construction of new zealand house in haymarket road london described as london s most distinguished 1960s office block . 4 in 1961 the firm took tom spaven kenneth graham vernon lee john richards chris carter and alan whiteman into partnership . as a result the practice changed its name to rmjm & partners . 5 the change in name also marked a shift towards larger international projects ; by 1967 the practice employed 350 members of staff between the edinburgh and london offices . 6 rmjm began to take on more projects as the need for public sector construction grew 5 expanding to include a glasgow studio before extending its reach beyond the british borders . in the late 1960s the firm began working on projects in the united states ; further projects in the middle east and central asia allowed rmjm to establish several more international studios in the following decades . over the next twenty years rmjm continued to expand and the firm s modernist functional style became a trademark . as rmjm moved further into the emerging markets of the middle east east asia and africa it began to establish more offices within the respective countries . today rmjm limited now has studios in twenty five countries . 1 rmjm in middle east edit pakistan edit in 1960 rmjm were selected by the pakistani government to assist in the regeneration of the nation s capital islamabad . 5 the team tasked with the original project were invited to collaborate again in 2011 by the pakistani defence housing authority . 7 this time the project involved the design and construction of a new sustainable city just outside karachi which began construction in 2012 . 8 the collaboration which also included osmani one of pakistan s oldest architecture firms led to the two firms establishing a working relationship that would lead to the formation of rmjm osmani in 2014 . 9 saudi arabia edit rmjm began to work in saudi arabia in 1968 following an invitation to design the first plans for the western region of saudi arabia with master plans for the holy cities of mecca and medina as well as the commercial capital jeddah . 10 the project included detailed plans for the process of implementing and maintaining the broad area along with architectural commissions for housing and institutional buildings . the project was hindered by a lack of cartographically correct maps and a language barrier but following the formation of an interdisciplinary office in jeddah the project was completed on time . 11 today rmjm saudi arabia has its headquarters based in riyadh but continues to work on projects around the kingdom including the terraces 12 and the waterfall 13 two high end mixed use projects located in the king abdullah financial district . the uae edit rmjm established their united arab emirates office in dubai in early 1971 with the firm poised to take on several projects around the uae following its formation in july of that year . 14 rmjm was the first registered international consultant to be employed by sheikh mohammed bin rashid al maktoum the ruler of dubai . 15 over the next four decades rmjm s dubai studio participated in several uae projects including the dubai international finance centre difc the dubai international convention centre dicc the abu dhabi national exhibition centre adnec and the world s furthest leaning building capital gate in abu dhabi . 16 17 18 19 today rmjm are still involved with several projects currently underway in the uae including saadiyat island in abu dhabi 20 and palm island in dubai . 21 rmjm in asia edit rmjm s first steps into the east asian market came in the form of designing the united world college for southeast asia which was officially opened in singapore in 1971 becoming a full member of the united world college organisation in 1975 . 22 23 this was followed by a request to design the asian institute of technology in bangkok . 24 since first moving into the asian market over forty years ago rmjm have been involved in over 150 projects across the east asian continent . rmjm have been responsible for the design development and or construction of over 50 buildings in china with several projects currently under design or construction . 25 in 2008 rmjm was asked to design one of the landmark buildings for the beijing olympic games 26 the china national convention centre a multi purpose arena is now a tourist destination following its role as one of the principal venues for the beijing olympic games . 27 today rmjm have studios in shenzhen province and hong kong as well as their principal east asia office based in shanghai . 28 rmjm in europe edit since its foundation in 1956 rmjm has expanded to work on projects across europe including the gazprom business centre in st petersburg russia and the new engineering building for the international university of galway in ireland . 29 30 in 2009 rmjm s istanbul office working with rmjm s new york based design team announced the commencement of a mixed use development project in atasehir istanbul . the first phase of the project was completed in late 2011 and was developed in partnership with turkish real estate development company varyap . 31 32 it was turkey s first leed certified mixed use development . 33 in december 2011 rmjm acquired yrm the nuclear and energy specialists allowing the company to venture into more technologically intensive industries such as environmental engineering . 34 in 2014 rmjm partnered with renowned designers simone cellitti and roberto tripi partners of pentastudio to create rmjm italia . 35 in february 2015 rmjm italia submitted a proposal for the international design competition for the city of the science in rome in collaboration with rmjm shenzhen and japanese architect waro kishi . 36 rmjm in africa edit rmjm s presence in africa dates back to 1960 when the group secured their first project for the government of nigeria establishing government standards for school and university buildings . 37 the project resulted in the construction of over 100 schools . 38 in 2014 rmjm established a studio in south africa following the partnership with froneman architects led by architect chris froneman . 39 rmjm south africa has developed several projects across south africa including the basil read headquarters in boksburg and the design for the rolling hills estate development in mpumalanga bg48 . 40 41 in 2015 rmjm symbion was established after the african based international architecture and engineering firm symbion joined rmjm . 39 today rmjm has studios located in pretoria south africa ; juba south sudan ; nairobi and mombasa kenya ; dar es salaam tanzania ; kampala uganda and gaborone botswana . rmjm in the america s edit north america edit rmjm established its north american branch following the purchase of hillier architecture in june 2007 . the purchased firm originally went under the title rmjm hillier but was later changed to rmjm north america . 42 with its chief headquarters in new york rmjm north america has successfully negotiated several high profile contracts including work in turkey dubai china and libya . 42 after hka architecture joined rmjm in 2014 the firm established an office in los angeles leading to the development of new sustainable building designs including the torrance memorial medical centre complex . 43 central america edit rmjm currently have two studios in the central american region with one based in monterrey mexico and the other in panama city panama . rmjm s mexican studio was founded in association with the architecture and design firm cearc in september 2014 . 44 based in the capital of panama rmjm ema is led by director and chief architecture edward mcgrath . 45 the studio represents the acquisition of edward mcgrath and associates a recognised architecture and landscaping firm . 46 south america edit rmjm established their first studio in south america in 2014 although a meeting between co founder sir robert matthew and then cuban political leader fidel castro in 1963 marked the first venture into the region . 38 two argentinian architecture and design studios joined rmjm in 2014 ; cordoba and ocho66 . a resulting design for the library and laboratory for the balseiro institute located in barlioche was awarded the third prize with the judges praising its functional and constructive correction . 47 48 rmjm initiatives edit since taking the helm at rmjm ceo peter morrison and group commercial director declan thompson have been responsible for a number of initiatives aimed at addressing issues within architecture . these include the architecture for everyone minority scheme which aimed to provide opportunities to talented ethnic minorities looking to establish a career in architecture . the scheme was initiated in partnership with the stephen lawrence trust named after the murdered teenager stephen lawrence who intended to study architecture at university . 49 other initiatives include a 1m investment to encourage young graffiti artists to pursue a career in architecture also part of the architecture for everyone enterprise . 50 notable projects and awards edit project location year of completion award turnhouse aerodrome edinburgh 1958 edinburgh architecture association centenary medal hutchesontown housing glasgow 1964 saltire award housing at barhill cumnock 1965 civic award ferguson park housing blairgowrie 1966 saltire award commendation housing at market street jarrow 1967 ministry of housing award farleigh dickinson university new jersey 1968 american institute of architects chapter awards franklin pierce college science building new hampshire 1969 american institute of architects chapter awards royal commonwealth pool edinburgh 1970 riba regional award university of stirling halls of residence stirling 1971 concrete society award commendation royal commonwealth pool edinburgh 1972 civic trust award power station cockenzie 1973 rics times conservation award ninewells hospital & medical school dundee 1974 concrete society award special