People

Director

Jayden Ali is the Founding Director of the practice and oversees all projects. He is an Architect, artist and filmmaker, and has been recognised as a key voice in shaping the future of our cities by the Design Museum, Vogue and Wallpaper Magazine, whilst also being included on the Architects’ Journal’s prestigious ’40 Under 40’ list. He is a Mayor’s Design Advocate, is part of the Hackney Regeneration Design Advisory Group and sits on the London Legacy Development Corporation Quality Review Panel. Jayden was the co-curator of the British Pavilion at the Venice Biennale 2023.

Snr Architect

Abby has a wealth of experience delivering a range of project types within the practice - from site-wide infrastructural upgrades at Queen's Market to inclusive public realm schemes at Camberwell Station Road. Abby leads and oversees all museum/gallery projects within the practice. Most notably, she has led the delivery of two permanent galleries at the V&A East and landmark temporary exhibitions such as Fashioning Masculinities and Entangled Pasts. Abby’s work champions social and spatial changes that are truly designed with, and are representative of, the people that enliven them. As such, her work is always driven by innovative engagement and creative co-design. Outside of JA Projects, Abby is involved with local nature reserves and an independent arts/music festival, Earthworks.

Snr Urban Designer and Co Design Lead

Cameron has contributed to projects across the fields of strategic masterplanning, town-centre renewal and the public realm improvement. He is interested in projects that have a strong focus on engagement and co-design, with an emphasis on working with project stakeholders to deliver work that is representative of their needs and desires. Cameron’s approach to architecture is rooted in a desire to deliver embedded projects with a strong sense of social and environmental sustainability.  At JA Projects Cameron is leading our contribution to Old Oak West, in a team led by Gort Scott for OPDC. He has delivered our community and social infrastructure focused Place Making Vision for Redchurch Street and led the engagement and co-design programme for Queen’s Market in Newham. Before joining JA Projects, he co-founded the Civic Soup collective in Scotland in 2016 and has worked on construction projects across the UK and in Madrid, Stuttgart and Mumbai. 

Global Cultural Lead

Brian has a background in architecture, art history, and archaeology. In his multiple roles at JA Projects as a researcher and designer, he has delivered the landmark de-colonial exhibition Entangled Pasts and The Time is Always Now. With a keen interest in museology and art historical discourse, he provides critical contributions to clients and the team in adopting a more global perspective, sensitively supporting historically peripheral and overlooked stories and actors in driving the practice’s de-colonial agenda. As a member of the global majority, he believes in the power of solidarity and mutual support to bring about institutional changes and conversation shifts within contemporary cultural spaces to dislodge historical biases and foster a more inclusive and pluralist future.

Architect

At JA Projects Divya has worked on a range of project. Currently, she is leading the design for the upcoming Nike exhibition at the Vitra Design Museum, having worked on the new V&A East Galleries and completed the exhibition design for Genetic Automata at the Wellcome Collection. Divya also has a keen focus on engagement, delivering workshops across a number of projects such as Thamesmead Riverfront and The Commission for Diversity in the Public Realm. Divya is interested in exploring elements of contemporary culture, such as language and beauty and uses techniques found in these fields as architectural design tools, having her most recent commission ‘Fake Deep’ exhibited at the Wellcome Collections exhibition the ‘Cult of Beauty’.

Snr Architect

Alice is central to the JA Projects’ commitment to housing delivery, leading the Tustin Estate Regeneration team designing two streets of infill social housing reflecting and tying into the existing character of the estate. She led the practice’s contribution to a large mixed-use regeneration scheme within the Silvertown Quays masterplan, Newham. Her experience includes working within the public and private sector delivering cultural and housing projects. Prior to JA Projects, Alice worked at Caruso St John and Gort Scott Architects. Notably, Alice led Gort Scott's Central Parade project, a cultural hub, and workspace in Walthamstow awarded the NLA Mayor’s Award and London RIBA Award in 2017 & 2018 respectively. Alice was also assistant Creative Director for Greenpeace, designing and project managing the Greenpeace field at Glastonbury.

Operations

Siobhan brings to JA Projects 10 years’ experience in developing multi-partner, cross-sector projects that connect culture, creativity and enterprise in ground-breaking ways. Here, she oversees daily activities across the administrative and organisational side of the practice from supporting external partner and client liaison, resource, strategy and internal/external communications. Before JA Projects, she managed external partnerships and projects for Spatial Practices at Central Saint Martins, and was Festival Manager at London Design Festival, the world’s leading design event, overseeing its residency at the V&A museum. As a Cultural Studies and Arts Management postgraduate, she has a passion for organisations and practitioners that make you discover and see things differently through design and creativity.