SERVICES

ARCHITECTURE

Dmitri Martin Associates (DMA) designs buildings with people, sustainability and context as its primary focus. It believes that every project is different and always aims to deliver well-functioning, meaningful and beautiful solutions. It draws on years of experience. Dmitri began his professional career designing extensions and one-off houses for clients in central Somerset before moving to Wright & Wright Architects where he worked for over 4 years. There he gained invaluable experience and was involved in a range of high-profile projects, including the new Hull Truck Theatre, Corpus Christi College Library at Cambridge University and the RCA Sculpture School. Following on from this, during his time at Metaphor (7 years) Dmitri looked after their architectural portfolio which included an extension to Salisbury Museum and numerous other alterations of significant public buildings. 

In its relatively short time in business, DMA has completed several architectural projects from beginning to end including projects at the Science Museum, V&A Museum, and Westminster Abbey.

As well as practicing, Dmitri is a visiting critic and part-time tutor at The Welsh School of Architecture at Cardiff University.

Exhibition Design

Exhibition Design has become a central part of DMA’s business. It has experience at every scale from displaying a single object or designing a small temporary exhibition to creating major permanent galleries in national museums. Most projects are the result of collaboration between a large number of people and this often includes contractors /makers as well as those on the client side and the design team. DMA really enjoys working this way and brings enthusiasm to the process. It has found that flexibility is often required to meet the needs of different institutions, audiences and budgets as well as creativity.

DMA have a detailed technical understanding of the challenges involved in displaying objects. Dmitri has years of experience of designing bespoke showcases, mounts and other display furniture in different settings and environmental conditions. Likewise he has designed concepts for many interactives, films, graphics and models over the years. He has always worked closely with the many makers and specialists (e.g. lighting and AV) who contribute to exhibition projects, to integrate their work into the design and shape it into a coherent vision.

Masterplanning

Masterplanning projects can vary a great deal in scope. Some require very conceptual thinking and can be part of major reassessment of a building or an institutions future; others are much more pragmatic and more about finding the right spaces for particular functions and clarifying an organisation’s priorities for the future. Dmitri worked on variety of masterplanning projects during his time at Metaphor. All of these projects were for museums or visitor attractions and were often linked with branding, interpretation, business and conservation management plans. Most recently Dmitri completed a masterplan for Salisbury Museum (in collaboration with Metaphor) which was used to support a successful HLF round 1 funding application (June 2019). Additionally DMA has already been commissioned to carry out several masterplanning projects on its own. One of these was at Locomotion in Shildon, where it proposed a series of small, low budget, quick win projects intended to breathe new life into the site. All of this experience has helped DMA to develop a methodical approach that aims to find elegant solutions to complex problems.