Pippa is director of Nissen Richards Studio. She trained as an architect and a theatre designer. She leads the postgraduate Architecture Unit 3 at London Metropolitan University, exploring themes from the work of the studio. She has been teaching architecture for over 20 years, previously as a Design Fellow at Cambridge University, and at Kingston University. She is regularly invited to lecture and take part in wider debates about design both in the UK and Internationally and she has received many awards for her work.

She has won many awards for her work, including recent clients include the British Museum, V&A, Natural History Museum, National Trust, Wallace Collection, Courtauld, and the National Portrait Gallery.