Biography
Nicola Blake is an architect at Cambridge-based architecture and urban design practice 5th Studio, where she is currently leading several decarbonisation and retrofit projects for university estates, including the design of a river-water-supplied renewable energy centre on the River Cam for Darwin College Cambridge and a net zero masterplan for St Hugh’s College Oxford. She is also working on a project to increase comfort and efficiency at a hairbrush factory in Essex.
Nicola’s previous work at 5th Studio ranges from high street and public realm regeneration with a focus on community engagement and co-design, to detailed design within listed buildings, to active travel and security strategies for a rail testing and innovation facility. Her work at David Kohn Architects included a new university quad, the residential retrofit of a cow shed, and new market halls for Birmingham. Nicola completed her bachelors at the University of Cambridge, before graduating with Distinction from London Metropolitan University for her Part II and qualifying as an architect from the University of Westminster in 2020.
At the Department of Architecture, Nicola teaches Year 2 Studio 6 with Darius Woo, exploring the adaptive reuse of existing buildings and ways of achieving density in our cities while minimising demolition and embodied carbon.
