William Russell studied architecture at the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne and the Royal College of Art, working in Hong Kong for commercial architects RMJM between degrees. Having graduated from the RCA, he setup practice with David Adjaye before establishing William Russell Architecture & Design in 2000. In 2005 he joined Pentagram’s London office as a partner.

His commercial clients include The London Jewellery Centre (a joint venture between Holtz Jewellers and The London Borough of Camden), Alexander McQueen, Margaret Howell and H&M. In addition to these, he has designed numerous residential projects for clients such as Ewan MacGregor and the artist Chris Ofili while the construction of his own residence in Bacon Street, East London, has attracted critical acclaim from around the world.

William taught a diploma unit at London South Bank University for three years, has been an invited lecturer at the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland (RIAI) and the University of Buckinghamshire. He has also been involved in a series of workshops at the Royal College of Art. William has won numerous awards including two Commercial Architecture Awards for his retail environments for Cass Art and Margaret Howell.