Deborah Saunt

Saunt was born in New South Wales, Australia,[1] and grew up in Kenya and England.[2] She attended Heriot-Watt University/Edinburgh College of art and the University of Cambridge,[3] and moved to London after graduating from Cambridge.[2]

Saunt's first architectural work was an 18-month role in the early 1990s on the British Library in London under Colin St John Wilson. She later worked for London architect MJ Long before starting to teach in 1997 at the Architectural Association School of Architecture and at the University of Cambridge. She also worked for Tony Fretton after attending a lecture he gave to the Royal Institute of British Architects.[2]

The Paradise Park Children's Centre

Saunt established DSDHA with David Hills, whom she had met while both were studying architecture at Cambridge, in 1998. With DSDHA, Saunt has designed a flat-iron building for Bosideng on South Molton Street, a residential block for the Riverside development on the Greenwich Peninsula, an Olympic Village block in East Village, a studio-gallery for Edmund de Waal in West Norwood, and a jewellery studio for Alex Monroe in Bermondsey.[1] In 2006 they designed a children's centre for SureStart and Islington Green Space in Islington.[4] The building was SureStart's building of the year. Saunt and Hills also designed a new building for Christ's College in Guildford, for which they were shortlisted for the RIBA Stirling Prize in 2010.[5] In 2012, Homes & Property magazine included Saunt in a series on "London's top architects".[5]

Saunt is married to her business partner, David Hills. They live in Clapham with their two children.[5]