Dr. Rachel Simmonds

Biography

Rachel Simmonds studied architecture at Scott Sutherland School of Architecture, Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, and Ecole d'Architecture de Clermont Ferrand in France. With over 20 years of architectural practice, she has worked with senior-level award-winning architects in Edinburgh and established her own design practice, Studio Bof. Her projects include housing, education, conservation, theatre, office design, architectural conservation, interior design, art commissioning, and urban design. Simmonds has received industry awards, such as the Saltire Award for Art in Crafts Architecture and the Scottish Design Award for Public Realm Landscape. She began tutoring in architecture in 1998 at Scott Sutherland School and joined Edinburgh College of Art (ECA) in 2008 as a part-time tutor in interior design, becoming a full-time lecturer in 2016. Her teaching spans undergraduate and postgraduate courses at ECA, with international involvement through exchange programmes. Simmonds has developed courses, including the Fashion Interior Courses in partnership with Donghua University. Her research focuses on the links between Scottish and Nordic modernist architecture and design, with interests in exhibition design and the relationship between people and space. She has presented her research at international conferences and has been published in journals. Currently, she is a part-time doctoral student at the University of Westminster, researching the impact of photography in exhibition design and modernist architecture.

Research Interests

Experience