Sarah de Freitas, creative director, AXI Studio, on utilising AI, smart workspaces & the turning tide on VE.

Sarah de Freitas is one third of Manchester-based architecture and design practice, AXI.

In partnership with Alex Brooks and Freddie Evans, Sarah built the studio to offer a full service to clients in the commercial, hospitality, retail and healthcare sectors. And what began as a team of three, six-years ago, has now expanded to nine, working out of a HQ on Mosley Street.

Sarah has joined us on our roundtables – most recently, on the subject of EDI and workplace. And when we sat down to catch up on what’s been happening at the studio in this second half of the year, we revisited the topic, alongside sustainability and technology - keen focuses for both the AXI team, and, reassuringly on the former, clients too.

From embracing AI to seeing a positive change in relation to value engineering, here, Sarah fills us in on the latest studio activity, and what's on the horizon more generally for the industry.

Firstly, can you please introduce us to AXI?

“AXI was started by myself and two friends; Alex Brooks and Freddie Evans. My background is interior design, and theirs is architecture, and we wanted to build a studio together to offer clients a fully collaborated interior and architectural design solution.

“Almost six-years on, we are growing from strength-to-strength working in a range of sectors including commercial, hospitality, retail, and healthcare. We have a great team of nine working from our studio on Mosley Street.”

What is your professional background to-date?

“I studied Interior Design at University in 2007, and graduated at possibly the worst time - shortly after the 2008 recession. There were no design jobs in the UK, so I decided to move to Australia where I landed my first design assistant role in a small practice in Sydney.

“When moving back home to Manchester, I was lucky to be offered a job at PDI, which had just won the contract to design The Oast House. This was my first project and was shortly followed by the rollout of the New World Trading Company portfolio, which included the Botanists, Smugglers Cove, and The Trading House.

“After seven great years at PDI, working on some incredible hospitality projects, I went on to set up my own interior design studio called De Freitas Design. Here, I continued to focus heavily on hospitality and won the design for the rollout of The Light Cinemas.

“It was whilst having De Freitas Design that I met Alex and Freddie and it wasn’t long before we decided to join forces and form AXI.”

When did you first become interested in design?

“I have always been creative, and my strengths were always artistic, but it wasn’t really until I was doing my A levels that I considered actually becoming an interior designer. I was really into horse riding when I was younger, and competed at show jumping so my focus was always on that instead of having a ‘real’ career.”

There’s so much to think about when it comes to design now – from regulations to ESG and EDI – how do you keep yourself informed?

“I try and attend as many seminars and CPDs as I can, and we are so lucky to have places like Material Source on our doorstep with your regular events.”

You joined us for our roundtable on EDI – how does that factor into what you do?

“It factors into what we do in many different ways such as; understanding clients or end users’ needs. We are currently working on the new St Ann’s Hospice building and the requirement for the patients and staff who will be using this space are vastly different to one of our other projects which is a fashion studio in the Northern Quarter.

“Within our studio we encourage our staff to attend seminars and CPDs about EDI to extend their education on the subject but also try to ensure we put our leanings into practice.

“One of the biggest takeaways from the roundtable on EDI was installing flexibility and adaptability into the workspace, which we have since tried to implement within the AXI studio.”

Is it a relatively new thing?

“I think it has always been there but there is certainly more awareness around the subject now, which is so positive.”

What are the most important considerations for clients when it comes to their schemes currently?

“It varies from client to client, but the importance of sustainability is definitely up there and the demand for sustainability from clients is only growing, which is so nice to see.

“It doesn’t seem that long ago that we would have to really sell the idea of sustainable design to our clients with them inevitably VE-ing most of it out.”

Can you tell us about some of the schemes you currently have on?

“We are working on some great commercial projects within the city; a full building redesign on Portland Street, Bridgewater House, a fashion studio in the Northern Quarter, and barristers' office in the CBD.

“Then as mentioned earlier, the new St Ann’s Hospice in Cheadle, this is a new purpose built building housing 27 bedrooms with private terraces all facing a central communal garden.

“It is such a wonderful project to be involved in - knowing how much of a positive impact the new facility will have on the patients.”

How has the workplace sector changed over the last five-years?

“The sector has changed drastically over the past five-years, all accelerated by Covid-19. The most prominent I would say is remote and hybrid working models, allowing employees to split their time between home and the office.

“Many organisations are trying to revert back to a full five-day office week but I can’t see it ever going back to the way it was. What we are finding a lot of is companies trying to create offices that their staff want to spend time in, so as opposed to forcing them back they are trying to entice them whether that be through beautifully designed spaces, fun collaboration areas, lunch provided etc.”

Are you embracing data and technology as a practice?

“Yes, you have to embrace it, it’s definitely not going anywhere. We are exploring different AI tools and looking to see which are best to help support and enhance our offering.”

…And are your clients embracing it in their projects?

“Definitely. Video conferencing has now become the norm, so our commercial clients have to provide spaces and equipment to facilitate this.

“We are seeing more smart office technology so smart thermostats, lighting and AV equipment.”

When a brief lands, where do you start?

“We start with the research, getting to know our client and the space/building. We really try and put ourselves into the shoes of the end users, what they want and need from the space, their day-to-day interactions, how we can better their experience...”

Where do you seek inspiration?

“Absolutely everywhere! This is one of my go-to interview questions and I love watching the interviewee try to come up with the right answer but there really is no wrong answer.

“I can be walking my dog, out to dinner, doing a food shop and something will catch my eye and inspire me for a project I might be working on.”

Do you have a favourite scheme? Yours or someone else’s?

“This is a hard question. The Oast House will always be my favourite as it was the first project I worked on but more recently I love what we did to the reception space at 101 Embankment or Dear Sailor, a small cocktail bar we completed earlier in the year in Spinningfields.”

What does 2025 hold for architects and designers?

“I think it is an interesting time for architects and designers, with so much change being brought on by technology, sustainability initiatives and evolving human needs. I think there will be a continuous shift towards greater efficiency, resilience, and adaptability.”

What’s next for AXI?

“We are at an exciting stage, ready for the next chapter of growth and innovation, exploring the emerging opportunities AI is presenting.

“We are also working on a couple of large pitches for very exciting projects within both the commercial and BTR sectors…watch this space!”