Siri Zanelli

Siri is an architect, mother and founding partner of Collective Works. She is passionate about positive change. Whether through our built environment, in a local community, on a difficult site, or in a carefully designed bespoke home, or through the way in which the practice is run.

Educated in Norway and Japan, she has worked on everything from large infrastructure schemes to log cabins, but the golden thread through her work is her a clear headed optimism. She always finds a way to add a bit more colour, texture and joy; the human touch, to any project.

Siri help clients to achieve their design aspirations for buildings and spaces. She has lead multiple stakeholder projects in London involving complex planning issues, light touch community projects for primary schools and charities, play spaces where POE shows that we have changed lives and social prescribing spaces for the NHS where we have transformed dull hospital wings to places where people thrive  as well as domestic projects that bringing light, space, colour and a sustainable outlook to renovations and extensions.

The right architect should help translate your vision and allow you to be an active participant in the process. Whether it’s a new construction or a renovation, a housing project, a school or a cultural centre, Siri and the Collective Works team will partner with you to create spaces that will work for you and for everyone, now and in the future. Architecture is a collaborative endeavour and can be a force for good, taking every project beyond the ordinary.

“Our consultation with Siri was exceptional. It was beyond helpful to have such detailed guidance at the start of our home extension journey because we are now going in eyes wide open, with a very realistic idea of cost and timeframe. Siri’s ideas about how to extend our space without losing what we love about it, were so clever.”

Wellbeing

Whatever your project, your wellbeing should be at the forefront of the design – whether in air quality in your home, bringing calm to a nhs space through biophilia and acoustics, supporting the mental wellbeing of children through places for creative, unstructured play or a place to focus on your own fitness and wellbeing.

Siri is currently undertaking a WELL course to support our focus on the physical and mental wellbeing of those who use the buildings we design.

An inclusive, kind and equitable world

“Siri Zanelli’s zest for life encourages many of us to remain authentic in our pursuit of high quality architecture and sustainable design while remaining centred” –Tara Gbolade

Collective Works have done a lot of work to understand our impact and agency. The construction industry is a huge contributor to the climate emergency, and the practice is now successfully delivering sustainable projects that go far beyond current building regulations in terms of embodied carbon and operational energy. Siri and the team set aside our own research time to upskill on new materials and details, and have developed tools and systems to take their clients on the journey with them.

Siri takes her role as a female leader of a small architecture practice – and by default also as a role model, informal mentor and ally – seriously. It is for this role that she has been shortlisted in the 2024  Inspiring Women in Property Awards ‘Woman of the Year – Residential’ category.