About RMI Architects

RMI Architects are an award winning design studio based in Belfast but with work across UK, Ireland and United States. We are committed to creating Architecture that can positively influence our environment and enrich our lives and we endeavour to design buildings that are responsive to their context, are well-crafted and which have the potential to inspire. We work across a wide range of sectors and scales and our approach is underpinned by our ambition to Respond, Make and Inspire.

We enjoy working with Clients who share our passion for creating great buildings and places but we also understand that delivering successful projects is about more than great design. We recognise that great design also has to work within commercial realities and that delivering successful projects is very much a team effort. At RMI we work closely with our Clients to establish their requirements and aspirations at the outset. We translate this into a clear vision for the project, foster collaboration among the Client, Stakeholders, Design Team and Contractor and provide leadership to ensure the vision is translated into a successful project which exceeds expectations.

Our Ormeau Avenue Studio is located in Belfast’s Linen Quarter – home to many of the city’s main business and public sector headquarters.

Our previous Great Patrick Street studio was located in Belfast’s Cathedral Quarter in the former Northern Ireland Electricity headquarters building. Until the 1990’s the building was the ‘switchroom‘ for Greater Belfast, controlling the power distribution and trying to keep the lights on throughout the City during the troubles. In 2005 RMI Partners John Reid and Peter McGuckin led the regeneration of the building with the creation of two floors of studio space and an art gallery on the ground floor, now occupied by the Golden Thread Gallery.

Our open studio working arrangement at Ormeau Avenue ensures creativity and cross-fertilisation of ideas and skills across project teams and types. We believe in a collaborative approach to design which involves clients, design team and stakeholders. We also believe that better design comes through challenging assumptions, rigorous testing of ideas and critical analysis of ideas and proposals. We routinely carry out internal and peer review design critiques using drawings, diagrams, physical models and computer generated models to explore design alternatives. These are used to explore many different aspects of design proposals such as architectural form, massing, scale and materiality.

At RMI we have a fantastic team who are passionate about design, motivated by new challenges and who share our goals of creating buildings that have a strong sense of place, are well crafted and that can inspire and enrich our lives.

The Team is led by Director Stephen Miskelly and Associate Gavin Sloan.

All projects are led by Stephen or Gavin and managed day to day by the Project Architect. We actively promote continual professional development and provide mentoring and financial support to help staff achieve their personal career goals as we believe this ultimately improves the Practice and the quality of service we can offer to our clients.

The studio format promotes flexible working methods whereby staff get to work on a wide range of project scales and types but are also encouraged to develop specialism’s which enhance the Practice and their own professional development.