Steve Chilton

Steven Mark Chilton (born 1971, London) is a British architect. He married Natalie Dillon in 2005 and has two children.

Early career
Steven Chilton studied architecture at the University of Manchester, graduating in 1997 with a Distinction in design.

On leaving Manchester, he joined Marks Barfield Architects and spent his first four years in practice working on the design and construction of the London Eye. Following this he led the design on a number of award winning projects including Millbank Millennium Pier and White Horse Bridge.

He became an Associate Director in 2006 and went on to lead the design on a number of notable projects including a new landmark for Wales called The Red Cloud  and an innotative elevating marketing suite for Candy and Candy and the Qatar Investment Authority for Britain's most expensive residential development at Chelsea Barracks. The £25m project was awarded planning permission by Westminster City Council in 2008 but was put on hold after the developers withdrew their plan to build 552 flats in 2009. Marks Barfield later promoted the project as a luxury residential scheme titled Villa Hush Hush.

In 2009, Chilton led the design for Marks Barfield's competition entry to design the UK Pavilion for Expo 2010. This was followed by his design for a youth centre in Birmingham for Myplace called Factory which he undertook with a group of young people through the Sorrel Foundation.

In 2010 he won first prize for Best Work of Architecture at the Royal Academy summer exhibition with his design for an innovative viewing tower named 'Hyper Tower'.

Career at Stufish
Chilton left Marks Barfield in 2010 to set up his own practice, Steven Chilton Studio. During this period he was engaged by entertainment architect Mark Fisher to create a concept proposal for a new theatre in Wuhan he had been commissioned to design by the Dalian Wanda Group. Containing a state of the art auditorium designed by Fisher, the theatre would be the first ever purpose built venue to house a show by the renowned director of The House of Dancing Water, Franco Dragone.

Chilton's concept, inspired by the form of traditional Chinese lanterns, was accepted by Wanda in November 2010 and he joined Stufish shortly after to lead the concept development and detail design of The 'Han Show' Theatre in collaboration with Mark Fisher, who led the design of the auditorium and show. The 'Han Show' Theatre, also known as the 'Red Lantern' Theatre, is due to open in 2014.

In late 2011, Stufish were approached by Dalian Wanda Group to design a new theatre in Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture for another show by Franco Dragone. Chilton's proposal for a design inspired by local pagoda architecture was accepted and he currently leads the design team developing the design in collaboration with Atelier One engineers and Auerbach Pollock Friedlander theatre consultants. The 'Floating Pagoda' Theatre is due to open in 2015.

Awards

 * Royal Academy Summer Exhibition Prize Winner