Cost & Value
Architects have a reputation for not caring about cost. While sometimes that reputation is unfortunately deserved, I believe that more often the issue is that we care about more than just cost. All too often as we travel around, we see projects where costs have obviously been pared to the bone without any thought of […]
Conservation Accreditation : Project Approach
At the start of the year, David Johnson finally gained his accreditation in conservation architecture with the RIAS. Here is an extract from his submission, setting out his approach to projects. It could be argued that conservation architecture should not be limited to a few special properties. Many lesser buildings are important and worthy of […]
Project Reflections : 1 Grosvenor Crescent
This once magnificent Victorian townhouse had been for many years the headquarters of the Land Tribunal (Land Court). As a government building the external fabric, the ashlar walls and slate roof were in excellent condition and had been well looked after over the years. Internally, the rooms had been altered to accommodate as best as […]
Symbolism in modern church architecture
I recently finished reading Theology in Stone by Richard Kieckhefer (read my review here). It explores four key aspects of church architecture: Spatial Dynamics, Centering Focus, Aesthetic Impact and Symbolic Resonance, and how these have been treated in different types of churches at different times through history. In a previous blog post, I looked particularly […]
Tales from Sabbatical – Kristi Greer
I was delighted to be offered a sabbatical from GLM to take a period of leave to join my partner in his home country, New Zealand. After years of immersing myself in studying, training, and becoming a well-established project architect I was looking forward to extended time off and turning on my “Out of Office”. […]
GLM promotes two of its rising stars
GLM are delighted to announce the promotion of two of its rising stars. David Ralph has been promoted to the position of Senior Architect and Neil Dickson has been promoted to the position of Senior Chartered Building Surveyor. Both David and Neil trained and qualified with the firm and are the very definition of The […]
Architecture – The Rationalisation of Whimsy
I set myself quite a challenge with such a ridiculously pretentious title, but it got stuck in my head. Even if you think I’m crazy, hopefully something in this will resonate. Architects often have to give explanations for why we do things. We write design statements, giving reasoned justification for our proposals. But does it […]
What you see and what you get: the shape of our buildings and how we use them
One of the things that fascinates me about church buildings is not just the raw architecture but also what it communicates about how the church in it works, how it thinks about itself and how this may completely contrast with how the church actually uses the space. Too often as architects we visit buildings when […]
St Comghan’s Chapel Wins at The Natural Stone Awards
Earlier in the month we were down in London for the Natural Stone Awards. These awards are run every two years by the Stone Federation of Great Britain to recognise the best in the natural stone sector. There were over 350 people there reflecting the diversity of the stone industry – architects, engineers, main contractors, […]
What is the collective noun for clergy?
You will be bored by now with us spamming you about St Comghan’s Chapel and the various awards it has been shortlisted for but last week was a very significant event. On a construction project, completion is marked in various ways – by certifying Practical Completion, the local authority accepting the completion certificate, by […]