Erbar Mattes is a London-based architecture practice founded by Demian Erbar and Holger Mattes in 2015.

We are dedicated to creating elegant projects that are firmly rooted in context, aiming to enhance and rebalance the essential qualities of a place, shaping purpose- and characterful buildings that are unique and truly belong.

Erbar Mattes has gained a reputation for its multi-faceted, sensitive and carefully crafted work and been recognised through international publications and awards. Our transformation of a listed former East-London pub, Blockmakers Arms, won a 2023 RIBA London Award and is a Gold winner at the international Erich Mendelsohn Awards for Brick Architecture. It is also one of twenty houses on the longlist for the RIBA House of the Year 2023. In 2022 Erbar Mattes was one of ten Architectural Record New York Design Vanguard winners, selected from emerging talent around the world.

We are passionate about creating more truly affordable homes in low-carbon / low-energy design and are actively exploring new materials and methods of construction. An innovative timber frame house with ground source heat pump and heat recovery ventilation system has recently achieved practical completion in Wimbledon.

Our collaborative approach to delivering high-quality results and exceptional value has helped us build lasting client relationships.

Services

Our practice follows a well-structured process based on the Royal Institute of British Architects' Plan of Work for UK projects. We provide a responsive, friendly and personal architectural service from concept to completion, competitively priced and with a focus on cost-effectiveness. show more

Erbar Mattes works across a wide range of scales and budgets and offers prospective clients a free initial consultation to understand their challenges and needs.

Over the years we have gained extensive knowledge obtaining planning approval within conservation areas and for listed buildings in England. Our practice has developed a restrained and sympathetic architectural language that mediates between modern and historic contexts, successfully addressing these particular planning challenges.

All projects are developed with 3D Building Information Modeling software (BIM) to create a digitial twin of the building, allowing us to share virtual walk-through models, explore options, resolve complex spatial questions, and produce well-coordinated construction information.

We collaborate with a network of experienced consultants for planning and construction reports. This allows us to provide early guidance to our clients on the necessary requirements, enabling them to budget effectively.

With our international background and project experience, we have established connections with excellent architects from around the world who can support us in delivering designs overseas. Our network extends to countries such as Germany, France, Spain, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Argentina, Mexico, and the United States. We are fluent in English, German, Spanish and Italian.

Team

Erbar Mattes' co-founders, architects Demian Erbar and Holger Mattes, are passionately involved in shaping and managing all projects from concept to completion. Together they bring 40 years of experience in leading the design and construction of highly acclaimed buildings in the United Kingdom and abroad. These include a hotel for the Capella Hotel Group and Hermès, the purpose-built public art galleries The Hepworth Wakefield in Yorkshire and Turner Contemporary in Margate, and the housing-led regeneration projects Agar Grove in Camden and Brentford Lock West II in Hounslow, which have been exceptionally transformative for their communities.

Demian Erbar
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Demian was born in Argentina and studied architecture in Germany, Italy and the UK, graduating from the RWTH Aachen in 2006.
 
Prior to establishing Erbar Mattes in 2015, Demian worked at David Chipperfield Architects in London leading the design and delivery of high profile residential, hospitality, and cultural projects, including the interior design of the Stirling Prize nominated The Hepworth Wakefield gallery (pictured below) and a studio for the artist Antony Gormley in Norfolk.
 
Demian is a registered architect in the UK (ARB) and a chartered member of the RIBA. Alongside practice, Demian has taught at the University for the Creative Arts, Reading University and the Welsh School of Architecture.
 

Holger Mattes
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Holger was born in Germany and studied architecture at the Technical Universities in Aachen, Delft, and Berlin, graduating in 2002. He gained professional experience in Germany and The Netherlands, qualifying as an architect in 2005.
 
Holger moved to London in 2007 to join David Chipperfield Architects where he was an Associate from 2009 until 2013. He was the project architect of the acclaimed Turner Contemporary art gallery located on the seafront in Margate which has attracted nearly 4 million visitors and is featured on the £20 note. (pictured below)
He further led a number of high profile residential and hospitality schemes in the UK, US, and the Middle East. These include a new build hotel for the Capella Hotel Group and Hermès, and a residential development for Spink Property.
 
Prior to establishing Erbar Mattes in 2015, he collaborated with Mae Architects where he oversaw the technical design of the largest Passivhaus regeneration scheme in the UK for Camden Council, Agar Grove, and designed the RIBA award winning housing development Brentford Lock West II (pictured below), creating 157 high quality homes.
 
Holger is registered as architect in the UK (ARB) and The Netherlands, and a chartered member of the RIBA. Alongside practice, he taught architecture as assistant professor at the Technical University Aachen, the University for the Creative Arts in Canterbury, and has been a design critic at the Bartlett, UCL, London Metropolitan University, and the Welsh School of Architecture.

Architectural Collaborators

Sketches, architectural drawings, images and three-dimensional models enable us to test and carefully calibrate the quality of space, light, proportions and materials. This design-led process is supported by highly talented architects, architectural assistants, image and model makers, as required. We are extremely grateful to our current and past collaborators who have contributed to shaping Erbar Mattes' body of work:

Igor Almeida
Maria Amador
Megan Ellis
Philippine Radat
Elin Soderberg
Alex Tucker

What our clients say

Blockmakers Arms
 
Erbar Mattes took us from that instinct through to a concept design and then supported the delivery of every detail. ... We love this house as it functions and looks now.

Noblefield Heights
 
Erbar Mattes carried out this brief with great precision and very thorough drawings. They went beyond our expectations by having the vision to recreate our living room area and kitchen into a beautiful bright space that has been the centrepiece of our home and a joy to be in.

Plykea
 
We’ve lost count of how many times customers say "oh wow, you actually make it here!?" and have a walk around and say "hi" to the team and see things in motion. ... Our goal, which Erbar Mattes has successfully delivered, is for the whole space to function as one big showroom rather than its component parts.

Hill House
 
And thanks for all you have done to get us through the planning hoops again!

Awards

RIBA House of the Year 2023 – longlisted

Erich Mendelsohn Award 2023 for Brick Architecture – Winner Gold

British Homes Awards 2023 – shortlisted

RIBA London Award 2023 – Winner

Manser Medal 2022 – Finalist

Architectural Review House Awards 2022 – Finalist

Architectural Record New York,
Design Vanguard 2022 – Winner

BD Architect of the Year Awards 2022 – Finalist

BDA Brick Awards 2022 – Finalist

Architects' Journal Retrofit Awards 2022 – Finalist

Haringey Design Awards 2018 – Winner

Dezeen Hotlist 2017

BD Architect of the Year Award 2017 – Finalist

Don’t Move, Improve! 2017 Special Prize – Winner

RIBAJ Microarchitecture Award 2015 – Finalist

A sense of permanence and identity
 
The former pub ‘Blockmakers Arms’ in London ... has been transformed by the architects into an outstanding example of reconstruction ... The project expresses how reconstruction works: not with a loud, grand gesture, but in a very sensitive way.
 
Erich Mendelsohn Award 2023 Gold winner - Jury Statement

Press

Dezeen, 10 August 2023
RIBA names top 20 British homes of 2023

RIBAJ - The RIBA Journal, 12 May 2023
RIBA London Regional Award 2023 - Blockmakers Arms, Hackney

Architects' Journal, 15 March 2023
First Look: Erbar Mattes completes space for kitchen-maker at Here East

The Architectural Review, December 2022
Blockmakers Arms in London, UK by Erbar Mattes

Baunetz Wissen, June 2022
Umbau eines Wohnhauses in London

Architectural Record, New York, 1 June 2022
Design Vanguard 2022: Erbar Mattes

Baumeister, 11 April 2022
Blockmakers Arms: Früher Brauerei, heute Familienwohnen

db deutsche bauzeitung, 03.2022
Wohnhaus in London

Dezeen, 27 February 2022
Erbar Mattes strips back and extends flats in former London pub

Architecture Today, 23 February 2022
The Blockmakers Arms: Erbar Mattes Architects has skilfully remodelled a former pub in north London to create a home for an expanding family

Architects' Journal, 15 February 2022
Erbar Mattes Architects extends former pub into five-bed duplex

Architects' Journal, 16 December 2021
AJ Retrofit Awards 2022 shortlist: Houses and Housing (House £500k and over)

The Modern House Journal
How to convert a period home – five architecture studios share their advice

TEC21 – Schweizerische Bauzeitung, Zürich, 18 September 2017, No.36
Grenzenloser Mikrokosmos

Dezeen, 16 October 2016
Erbar Mattes adds pale brick extension to Edwardian house in north London

A limitless microcosm (TEC21, September 2017)
 
In this seminal house, a whole array of apparently modest but actually very powerful and effective design strategies are at play, at many different levels. Their cumulative “gestalt” impact, although subliminal at first, is felt immediately.
 
Colin Fournier, Emeritus Professor, Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London