Sowing the seeds for a better built environment. Sow Space is an Oxford-based architects’ studio that is passionate about creating beautiful and inspiring spaces, with low energy, environmental and ecological impact. Our role is to work closely with our clients to gain a deep understanding of their brief and together, come up with an innovative and sustainable solution to an existing need. Our aim is to push beyond the ‘business as usual’ approach and to ultimately strive for projects that embrace the principles of regenerative design – buildings that restore, renew, and revitalise.

Our team is made up of architects who are experts in sustainable and ecological architecture, energy efficiency and Passivhaus, through design and research. Working in both practice and academia allows us to remain at the forefront of cutting-edge thinking, and to back up our designs with evidence-based solutions. Our projects range from new-build private houses, to the extension and low energy retrofit of existing buildings. Our aim is always to create high-quality and highly comfortable places for people and communities to thrive in.

Sow Space are a signatory to the Architects Declare movement, and as members of the South/South East steering group, we engage with other practices to push for positive action in response to our climate and biodiversity crisis. We are involved in a number of working groups within ACAN (Architects! Climate Action Network). We are a partner of OZCHI (Oxford Zero Carbon Homes Initiative), led by Oxford Friends of the Earth, lobbying for all newly built homes in Oxfordshire to be net zero carbon. We are a practitioner member of the RetrofitWorks cooperative.

Simon Chung

ARB, MSc, DipArch, BA hons

Simon has considerable experience in designing and delivering high quality projects of all scales in a variety of sectors, including residential, heritage, education, and commercial. Prior to co-founding Sow Space, he has worked for a number of award-winning practices in Oxford, London and the South East, finding great enjoyment in coming up with simple solutions to complex issues, often within sensitive environments. Clients have included the University of Oxford, a number of Oxford colleges, as well as a host of homeowners, self-builders, and residential developers.

Simon’s passion lies in designing energy-efficient and sustainable buildings, with a specialisation in low energy retrofit and Passivhaus design. His research includes a post-occupancy evaluation (POE) of three eco-retrofitted properties in Oxford, where key findings showed that occupant behaviour and lifestyle are as important as improving the building fabric. Simon has completed the Certified European Passivhaus Designer course and has been a visiting critic on the Master’s in Sustainable Building and the RIBA apprenticeship at Oxford Brookes University.

As a co-founding member of the volunteer group Low Carbon Marston, Simon spends some spare time supporting local residents to reduce their impact on the environment. He also enjoys playing 5-a-side football, baking sourdough bread, and attempting to replicate his mum’s Cantonese cuisine.

Irina Madalina Luca

ARB, DipArch, BArch

Irina’s professional career has focused on the design and development of small and medium scale residential projects, in both the domestic and commercial sectors. These include new builds, extensions, conversions, and the retrofit of existing homes. Irina finds the design process the most rewarding, thinking about a client’s requirements and a site’s complexities and limitations like the pieces of a puzzle, to be solved with a creative design solution. Building relationships with honesty, trust, and compassion is important to her, and helps make a difference to the lives of others.

Having travelled extensively and studied and worked in Romania, Brazil, and the UK, Irina brings a wealth of lived experience to the professional world and relishes practising as an architect in a non-native language. As a Project Architect, Irina leads a number of exciting projects. These include the conversion of a warehouse in East Oxford into new homes, an ambitious contemporary extension and retrofit of an unorthodox semi in Headington, and several low energy retrofit projects, helping our clients to improve the comfort and reduce the impact of their homes.

Outside of work, you will find Irina spending time in nature, taking long countryside walks or growing vegetables at her allotment. Irina plays in a samba band, partakes in all sorts of dances, and is a keen traveller to obscure locations with a deep curiosity for different cultures and people.

Dr. Mina Samangooei

ARB, RIBA, PhD, MSc, DipArch, BA hons

Mina’s extensive range of experience in practice includes residential, commercial, community, healthcare, and ecclesiastical buildings. Passionate about inspiring and working with people and communities to understand the need for future-proofing their projects, through lifestyle and long-term resilience. Mina has worked closely with co-housing and community led housing groups, thriving in the role as designer and design facilitator. Ecological and energy-efficient design and retrofit, including Enerphit, using a holistic approach is a main strength.

Mina is also an academic, with research focusing on the role that food production in and on buildings plays for the future of cities. Mina’s PhD looked at behaviour theory in relation to people cultivating edible plants on buildings, which has been brought into practice through workshops and other live projects. Mina is a Senior Lecturer in Architecture and Technology at Oxford Brookes University, leading undergraduate and postgraduate modules and conducting research with collaborators.

Outside of these two roles, Mina likes to play and win board games, participate in the Oxford parkrun, cook Persian cuisine (crunchy tahdig is a winner at home), and bake a variety of vegan and non-vegan cakes for vegan and non-vegan family members and friends.

Dr. Paola Sassi

ARB, PhD, MSc, Dipl.Ing, PGCHE

Paola is a highly experienced architect having worked extensively in both Germany and the UK, leading building projects in healthcare, education, commercial, and residential. She is an internationally renowned specialist in sustainable buildings and environmental design, with a focus on ultra-low energy building design and low impact materials. Her recent work has included a pair of low energy, closed loop, sustainable dwellings in Cardiff, and a comprehensive low carbon retrofit of a Victorian terrace in Oxford achieving an 80% reduction in heating energy demand.

Paola has combined her architectural practice with research and postgraduate / undergraduate teaching at the universities of Nottingham, Cardiff, Oxford Brookes, and CAT (Centre for Alternative Technology). She has developed and run new master’s courses in sustainable design and provides guidance to academic institutions, including the Architectural Association, and the universities of Edinburgh and Sheffield. She has published extensively and her book ‘Strategies for Sustainable Architecture’ was runner-up in the RIBA International Book Award. Paola acts as a consultant for Sow Space.

When Paola’s not retrofitting other people’s homes, she’s retrofitting her own. Having previously trained in carpentry, she has a very hands on approach. Paola is a lover of art and enjoys spending any spare time gardening.

Felicia Todericiu

ARB, MArch, DipArch, BArch

Felicia’s breadth of professional experience has taken her from Romania to the UK, spanning industrial, retail, and residential sectors, where residential has become her true passion and specialism. Architecture is about people, and Felicia considers the home the best place to start to improve the quality of people’s lives. She believes an architect must oversee all work stages and all intricate details of a project to be able to successfully turn a concept into reality, using all of an architect’s skills and responsibilities to inject life into all of her projects.

While Felicia’s success started at university in Cluj-Napoca, a city in northwestern Transylvania, winning first prize in an architectural competition to refurbish a ruined cultural palace in Blaj, Romania – these design skills are now transferred to practice. As a Project Architect, Felicia leads a number of extension and low energy retrofit projects with varying levels of complexity. The combination of Felicia’s strength in technical design and her commitment to innovation, sustainability, and collaboration, is particularly important and welcome in their successful design and delivery.

Felicia loves to travel the world and believes sampling the local cuisine is the best way to get to know a place. An ideal day for her would involve yoga, quality coffee, and a good book. You’ll also find Felicia taking marathon-length walks with her family along the river, into the countryside, and beyond.

Sowing the seeds for a better built environment. Sow Space is an Oxford-based architects’ studio that is passionate about creating beautiful and inspiring spaces, with low energy, environmental and ecological impact. Our role is to work closely with our clients to gain a deep understanding of their brief and together, come up with an innovative and sustainable solution to an existing need. Our aim is to push beyond the ‘business as usual’ approach and to ultimately strive for projects that embrace the principles of regenerative design – buildings that restore, renew, and revitalise.

Our team is made up of architects who are experts in sustainable and ecological architecture, energy efficiency and Passivhaus, through design and research. Working in both practice and academia allows us to remain at the forefront of cutting-edge thinking, and to back up our designs with evidence-based solutions. Our projects range from new-build private houses, to the extension and low energy retrofit of existing buildings. Our aim is always to create high-quality and highly comfortable places for people and communities to thrive in.

Sow Space are a signatory to the Architects Declare movement, and as members of the South/South East steering group, we engage with other practices to push for positive action in response to our climate and biodiversity crisis. We are involved in a number of working groups within ACAN (Architects! Climate Action Network). We are a partner of OZCHI (Oxford Zero Carbon Homes Initiative), led by Oxford Friends of the Earth, lobbying for all newly built homes in Oxfordshire to be net zero carbon. We are a practitioner member of the RetrofitWorks cooperative.

Simon Chung

ARB, MSc, DipArch, BA hons

Simon has considerable experience in designing and delivering high quality projects of all scales in a variety of sectors, including residential, heritage, education, and commercial. Prior to co-founding Sow Space, he has worked for a number of award-winning practices in Oxford, London and the South East, finding great enjoyment in coming up with simple solutions to complex issues, often within sensitive environments. Clients have included the University of Oxford, a number of Oxford colleges, as well as a host of homeowners, self-builders, and residential developers.

Simon’s passion lies in designing energy-efficient and sustainable buildings, with a specialisation in low energy retrofit and Passivhaus design. His research includes a post-occupancy evaluation (POE) of three eco-retrofitted properties in Oxford, where key findings showed that occupant behaviour and lifestyle are as important as improving the building fabric. Simon has completed the Certified European Passivhaus Designer course and has been a visiting critic on the Master’s in Sustainable Building and the RIBA apprenticeship at Oxford Brookes University.

As a co-founding member of the volunteer group Low Carbon Marston, Simon spends some spare time supporting local residents to reduce their impact on the environment. He also enjoys playing 5-a-side football, baking sourdough bread, and attempting to replicate his mum’s Cantonese cuisine.

Irina Madalina Luca

ARB, DipArch, BArch

Irina’s professional career has focused on the design and development of small and medium scale residential projects, in both the domestic and commercial sectors. These include new builds, extensions, conversions, and the retrofit of existing homes. Irina finds the design process the most rewarding, thinking about a client’s requirements and a site’s complexities and limitations like the pieces of a puzzle, to be solved with a creative design solution. Building relationships with honesty, trust, and compassion is important to her, and helps make a difference to the lives of others.

Having travelled extensively and studied and worked in Romania, Brazil, and the UK, Irina brings a wealth of lived experience to the professional world and relishes practising as an architect in a non-native language. As a Project Architect, Irina leads a number of exciting projects. These include the conversion of a warehouse in East Oxford into new homes, an ambitious contemporary extension and retrofit of an unorthodox semi in Headington, and several low energy retrofit projects, helping our clients to improve the comfort and reduce the impact of their homes.

Outside of work, you will find Irina spending time in nature, taking long countryside walks or growing vegetables at her allotment. Irina plays in a samba band, partakes in all sorts of dances, and is a keen traveller to obscure locations with a deep curiosity for different cultures and people.

Dr. Mina Samangooei

ARB, RIBA, PhD, MSc, DipArch, BA hons

Mina’s extensive range of experience in practice includes residential, commercial, community, healthcare, and ecclesiastical buildings. Passionate about inspiring and working with people and communities to understand the need for future-proofing their projects, through lifestyle and long-term resilience. Mina has worked closely with co-housing and community led housing groups, thriving in the role as designer and design facilitator. Ecological and energy-efficient design and retrofit, including Enerphit, using a holistic approach is a main strength.

Mina is also an academic, with research focusing on the role that food production in and on buildings plays for the future of cities. Mina’s PhD looked at behaviour theory in relation to people cultivating edible plants on buildings, which has been brought into practice through workshops and other live projects. Mina is a Senior Lecturer in Architecture and Technology at Oxford Brookes University, leading undergraduate and postgraduate modules and conducting research with collaborators.

Outside of these two roles, Mina likes to play and win board games, participate in the Oxford parkrun, cook Persian cuisine (crunchy tahdig is a winner at home), and bake a variety of vegan and non-vegan cakes for vegan and non-vegan family members and friends.

Dr. Paola Sassi

ARB, PhD, MSc, Dipl.Ing, PGCHE

Paola is a highly experienced architect having worked extensively in both Germany and the UK, leading building projects in healthcare, education, commercial, and residential. She is an internationally renowned specialist in sustainable buildings and environmental design, with a focus on ultra-low energy building design and low impact materials. Her recent work has included a pair of low energy, closed loop, sustainable dwellings in Cardiff, and a comprehensive low carbon retrofit of a Victorian terrace in Oxford achieving an 80% reduction in heating energy demand.

Paola has combined her architectural practice with research and postgraduate / undergraduate teaching at the universities of Nottingham, Cardiff, Oxford Brookes, and CAT (Centre for Alternative Technology). She has developed and run new master’s courses in sustainable design and provides guidance to academic institutions, including the Architectural Association, and the universities of Edinburgh and Sheffield. She has published extensively and her book ‘Strategies for Sustainable Architecture’ was runner-up in the RIBA International Book Award. Paola acts as a consultant for Sow Space.

When Paola’s not retrofitting other people’s homes, she’s retrofitting her own. Having previously trained in carpentry, she has a very hands on approach. Paola is a lover of art and enjoys spending any spare time gardening.

Felicia Todericiu

ARB, MArch, DipArch, BArch

Felicia’s breadth of professional experience has taken her from Romania to the UK, spanning industrial, retail, and residential sectors, where residential has become her true passion and specialism. Architecture is about people, and Felicia considers the home the best place to start to improve the quality of people’s lives. She believes an architect must oversee all work stages and all intricate details of a project to be able to successfully turn a concept into reality, using all of an architect’s skills and responsibilities to inject life into all of her projects.

While Felicia’s success started at university in Cluj-Napoca, a city in northwestern Transylvania, winning first prize in an architectural competition to refurbish a ruined cultural palace in Blaj, Romania – these design skills are now transferred to practice. As a Project Architect, Felicia leads a number of extension and low energy retrofit projects with varying levels of complexity. The combination of Felicia’s strength in technical design and her commitment to innovation, sustainability, and collaboration, is particularly important and welcome in their successful design and delivery.

Felicia loves to travel the world and believes sampling the local cuisine is the best way to get to know a place. An ideal day for her would involve yoga, quality coffee, and a good book. You’ll also find Felicia taking marathon-length walks with her family along the river, into the countryside, and beyond.