Resonant Architecture Works

Resonant Architecture is an Oxford-based architecture and urbanism practice specialising in low-carbon residential, education, workplace and heritage design. Founded on the belief that great design goes hand in hand with a thriving natural and human environment, the practice devotes its time to understanding the needs and aspirations of its clients and delivering beyond expectations.

Tom Dawson graduated from the University of Cambridge in 1999 and the Royal College of Art in 2003. During his early career he worked with a number of leading architects including Edward Cullinan, Architecture for London, and Berman Guedes Stretton, gaining experience across education, commercial, community, residential and urban projects at a variety of scales. Tom founded Resonant Architecture in 2020 to pursue an agenda of truly sustainable design and its ability to transform both places and communities.

Rafaela Neofytou joined the practice in January 2026, having studied at the universities of Portsmouth, Oxford Brookes and UWE. She brings broad experience from her time at other notable practices, alongside a specialism in Passivhaus and EnerPHit low-energy design. Rafaela leads projects around southern England and is driven by a passion for making high-quality, sustainable design accessible to all.

At the heart of the practice's approach is a clear philosophical framework. Their philosophy has evolved over three decades of practice, research and teaching. Central to it is the conviction that the success of a project depends on a powerful initial concept — one that is then rigorously tested against the brief and carried through to final implementation. This informs every aspect of the work, from early consultation and programme design through to material selection and technical considerations.

Sustainability is not an add-on but a founding principle. The practice's approach begins and ends with sustainability, with the natural world treated as our greatest asset and as critical to the health, prosperity and wellbeing of all humans. Equally important is contextual understanding: deep contextual research is embedded into the early stages of all their work, with the aim of fully interpreting the complex set of circumstances unique to each project.

The practice's work spans residential and commercial new builds, extensions, adaptation and reuse, conservation, interiors, landscape and sustainability consultancy, serving developers, homeowners, business owners and educational institutions. Projects range from low-energy residential retrofits and Cotswolds rural dwellings to community kitchens, heritage restorations and inclusive theatre venues — each one shaped by the same commitment to rigorous design thinking and environmental responsibility.

Resonant Architecture’s exhibit at Small Scale Big Ideas explores the archaeology of a building project how the fabric and history of existing buildings influences their renewal and the value of understanding the underlying sensibility of the craft and design. RA’s exhibit takes the exhibition space as a laboratory for close-looking. Through the

medium of photographs and drawings — the most intimate and informative tools of the architect's eye — we invite visitors to become archaeologists of the built environment.

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