Soma studio

04/11/2025

Some great feedback on this one after our recent story 🙌🏼

We’re excited to share the current design proposals for a lower-ground floor refurbishment in Glasgow’s West End — featuring an open-plan kitchen/diner with utility, plus a new dressing area and ensuite provisions.

We’ve hit the ground running thanks to our incredibly aspirational clients and a fully integrated design + delivery team appointed from the very start — a setup that makes all the difference!

Next stop: Planning and Listed Building Consent with the fantastic & 🏛️✨

02/01/2024

Working into our new studio space at West George street.

Having fun gathering samples for new projects and looking forward to 2024!

22/12/2023

Before moving into our wonderful new SoMA studio in October of this year, we had a lovely clean canvas to work with thanks to Design Engineering Workshop. Their own fit out of the space left us with original hardwood flooring, recently restored and fresh white walls. With a little paint and a some key items of furniture, we were able to move into this excellent space, and haven’t looked back since.

15/12/2023

It’s official, clients (and the postman) can now find our office! A simple addition to the existing studio signage, with a special thanks to Alan Hawthorn at Podbox for making this for us.

11/12/2023

Team photograph outside our new studio at 34 West George Street | Company founders and Directors Nathan Cunningham, Andy Gower, and Part 2 Architectural assistant Andrew Lang | Last but not least, Arnie the dog

01/12/2023

It’s beginning to feel like Christmas.

01/12/2023

Congratulations to _designpopup for organising a fantastic charity event, where over £4,000 was raised for the restoration of the Old Mill in Balmacara.

This would not have been possible without the generosity of everyone involved; either buying tickets, offering artworks, bidding on pieces, or simply buying tickets – all of which lead to a fantastic charity auction. Hosted within the excellent studio space of Collective Architecture, and with Natasha Raskin Sharp as auctioneer, resulted in a fun evening where we were proud to be in attendance. Well done to all involved!

30/11/2023

Millport Parish Church Conversion

Excited as we move forward with the next phase of works. Yesterday the timber frame flooring joists to the ground floor were installed, allowing for the five dwellings within this space to start taking shape. This is a fantastic project working with our client David Wright, and a great legacy for Steven Byrne, who was the original owner and designer.

21/11/2023

SoMA [State of Matter Architecture] is a new design and architecture studio, combining 30 years of knowledge, skill and expertise in the building industry to offer our clients innovative and elegant design solutions with a practical know-how. Ultimately, we are motivated by the opportunity to improve the quality in the way we live and work. Delivering projects, across all market types, locations and providers in the housing sector, SoMA is uniquely placed to help create, develop and deliver a product suited to our client needs and aspirations.

At SoMA we focus on designing and refurbishing buildings in a purposeful and sustainable way; crafting with form, material & light. Our ethos focuses on contemporary design, backed with a technical knowledge and long-term experience of smart and successful solutions. We have the skills and expertise to lead and guide our projects from inception through to completion. We are adept in collaborative brief writing, inclusive design development and are experienced at obtaining statutory consents, construction and well detailed projects.

We are a friendly, responsive and collaborative team whose work is inspired by our client’s project needs and aspirations. We are easy to chat to and work with, and enjoy collaboration and co-creation from the early stages of design through to construction. From our studio in Glasgow, we work with home owners, business owners, investors and main contractors, as well as highly skilled crafts and tradespeople in order to optimise our design process and deliver a high-quality service. We know the importance of client care services that we aim to wrap these around the design process – underpinned by a business knowledge and a solid understanding of our clients needs and project drivers.

we are State of Matter Architecture. we provide innovative and elegant architectural design solutions

21/11/2023

Company founder and Director, Nathan Cunningham.

Nathan is a true believer that considered design will solve any problem; with architecture being a natural manifestation of that belief. He has a passion for the built environment with a focus upon high quality design, efficient coordination and structured management of architectural and masterplanning projects. Nathan has a successful track record in delivery, achieved by reducing project risk through well managed creative thinking, complex problem solving skills and an acute commercial awareness.

Over the past 12 years Nathan has built up a portfolio of work across a range of regions, scales and typologies, namely within Residential; Workplace; Cultural & Masterplanning sectors. His professional skills have been consolidated in areas of design, project and client relations management; latterly broadening to higher level focus in account management, business development, and the strategic delivery of statutory applications, requiring the interpersonal skills of working in partnership with clients, project managers, client boards and key stakeholders.

This is evidenced in his role as project lead in delivering complex proposals with multiple stakeholder interest; such as the inception of Scotland’s largest urban and nationally recognised wetland park, a housing scheme now regarded by one of the UK’s leading providers as its benchmark project and award winning housing schemes which have redefined retirement living for the UK’s leading age restricted housing developer of whom he has also collaboratively worked alongside to reshape the brief for its future housing projects.

From masterplanning across 4 local Scottish authorities, to the bespoke details of a house on the Dorset coast, Nathan approaches every project with the same desire to be challenged, motivation and attention to detail, which together with a sound 3-dimensional design and visualisation capability, he utilises as his principal toolset in order to achieve his clients aspirations.

21/11/2023

Company founder and Director, Andy Gower.

Andy is an extremely experienced architect with extensive technical and specialist knowledge gained from almost 25 years in the industry. His rigorous and thoughtful approach has resulted in the successful delivery of several large and complex projects as lead architect.

Spanning over two decades of leading developments, Andy has found that working closely with clients to nurture projects is an intrinsic element of achieving great design. Knowledge gained over this period has proved time and time again, that the best results are born from a conscientious decision to extend focus beyond that of the key clients and stakeholders, and to reach out and include the local community. This is inevitably where the impact of new additions or changes to the build environment have the greatest impact.

Andy is a housing specialist and is familiar with the challenges integral to developing both new build housing and re-developing existing stock including; securing planning and building standards consents, working with end users with a variety of needs, delivering projects on time and on budget all whilst achieving design excellence. Andy is particularly skilled at developing clients’ visions in collaboration with contractors in order to achieve buildable and elegant detailing with highly efficient methods of construction.

This is reinforced with a track record of over 1,000 new homes, spanning a rich career of projects ranging from small scale community developments, rural housing, home refurbishment and extensions, local townscape redevelopment, and mass housing.

21/11/2023

We are very pleased to announce that as of October of 2023, we have moved into a new studio location at 34 West George Street, Glasgow. The new studio is shared with the very talented Design Engineering Workshop, who have been very kind (as always) and warmly welcomed us into their space.

A huge gratitude of thanks has to be given to Nathan Cunningham and Scarlett Williams for accommodating us all within Princes Terrace for our first 18 months, where SoMA studio was born.

Moving into the city brings with it an elevated level of excitement and ambition. We continue to grow as we approach our second year of delivering aspirational architecture and design, where client care is set firmly at the centre of how we deliver exceptional projects.

Please feel free to contact us and come in and see our new space. We should be here for some time to come!