Malcolm Reading Consultants (MRC) is a strategic architectural consultancy based in London that works all over the world. We are focused on achieving outstanding, award-winning design for our clients, who may be commissioning new buildings or re-inventing existing ones.
We run open and invited international design competitions that enable clients to compare a range of creative approaches and identify the most dedicated and inspired design teams.
We are known for our content-rich design briefs and competition websites, as well as our architectural and technical knowledge. While we love to imagine projects, we have also delivered them. This, along with over twenty years’ experience of competitions, means our propositions are always grounded in reality.
We understand international procurement rules and innovate within these. MRC competitions are designed to ensure the finalist teams’ energies can be focused on what’s central to ultimate success: the creative design challenge.
We have been privileged to help organisations as diverse and high-profile as Arts South Australia, New College, Oxford, the Royal College of Art, Houston Endowment, Related Midwest, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, Qatar Museums, the Illuminated River Foundation, Kaunas City Municipality, Mumbai City Museum, University College Dublin, Media City Taiwan, Exeter College, Oxford, St Catharine’s College, Cambridge and many others (see the full list of our clients).
MRC has attracted a dedicated following among international architects and designers that spans emerging practices to Pritzker laureates and results in an exceptional network of top-tier talent. In total our competition sites achieved over 1.7 million page views during 2017-18.
The 21st Century is a competitive place full of schemes that promise the earth. Engaging a high-flying design team is now a flag of ambition for many organisations, but to create architecture that is genuinely life- and planet-enhancing, original and innovative, requires a more considered, strategic approach.
An international competition is an excellent way to find a gifted design team. When matched with an outstanding design brief, compelling project narrative, and a campaign to build public and stakeholder support and goodwill, it positions the project for future success.
Alongside competitive selection, MRC also offers other pre-project services including proof-of-concept, feasibility and design briefing. We have an energetic, professional team with varied backgrounds in architecture, urban design, graphic design, web design and journalism; and with both commercial and public sector experience.
