They skilfully inserted the house in the middle ground and, not so simply, glazed over the space.Their home begins with twin channels of white pebbles filled with water into which a near-life-size, cast-iron bull delicately steps. At the front they built – “and sold” – flats in a four-storey block, capped with a penthouse, above their ground-floor architectural practice Deep in the space behind is their own home. They play a tape by Musica de Los Elementos, composed to celebrate Manrique’s work, piano trills overlaid with bird calls. “A bit naff,” says Richard, but he admits it recalls being thrilled by the buildings.
Their home, their first urban building, was built in the backyards of a nest of buildings.

Beaming light into an area like this was inspired by the Sixties work of Cesar Manrique. THE ARCHITECTS Heidi Locher and Richard Paxton like to listen to music lying back under the eaves – in their case a ground-floor steel RSJ 8m overhead that supports the alterations they made to turn the core of their house into an atrium: 20m overhead is the glass ceiling. A self-described “secret geek” who spent his teenage years hacking computer games on the classic Sinclair ZX81, Cohen is well-suited to his role as the Beenz technology executive – politics and PR notwithstanding.”Like many men in their late twenties now, [the Sinclair] got me hooked,” said the man whose teenage handle was MorrisMinor, a pseudonym which gave way to WebGod in more recent years.”We had crappy little computers with no power That’s why the best games programmers come out of the UK We know how to squeeze a pint out of a lemon.”. Cohen said it’s amusing to watch them learn of a Beenz offer, and return to sites again and again to collect as many Beenz as possible.But if watching a server box tick away calculations isn’t everyone’s idea of a good time, it’s important to know Cohen’s roots. The company keeps tabs on one bulletin board, known for the predatory way its contributors capitalise on every possible Beenz offer.

They can measure consumer reaction to large offers of Beenz as well as small ones. Cohen said the thought had even crossed his mind to slow the transaction speed, to see how this effected usage patterns of Beenz account holders.Monitoring the transactions can be entertainment in itself. They can experiment with scarcity, seeing how demand rises and falls relative to the supply at hand. Because the actual currency is virtual, it can be totally controlled by the company. “It seems to have fallen into that `I wish I’d thought of it’ category. That’s kind of a weird feeling.”The beauty of Beenz as an economic model is its purity, Cohen says.

“It taught me a lesson in loyalty,” Cohen said.PR gave way to Web design, and, finally, to an idea that Cohen says just wouldn’t leave him alone. “I would buy Wired every month, and scan the index, waiting for someone to do it,” he said. “I was good at dinner parties, but I’m not a very humble person, which is not good for PR,” he said “You have to be polite, respectful, diligent. I was a workaholic, but not inclined to agree, when I didn’t.”Lack of humility proved fateful for his PR gig, but Cohen said the founders of the agency, Band & Brown, stood by him through thick and thin. I didn’t want to go into lobbying, and I didn’t want to be prime minister.”Having summed up his qualifications as exactly none, thanks to his degree in philosophy and physics, which he says “prepared me for absolutely nothing”, Cohen decided to pursue a career in public relations. This position of power enabled Cohen to strong-arm Lib Dem MPs into making frequent use of e-mail and electronic bulletin boards.After three years in politics, Cohen did some soul-searching and decided to enter commercial life “I did my duty,” he said “[Then] I decided to make some money.