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 […]
The Life of an Architect – Part 2 : It’s in the Detail
I’m often asked why I chose a career in Architecture and my response goes something like this… Throughout my time at secondary school I thought I was pursuing a career as an interior designer, and it wasn’t until a careers advisor highlighted that my interest wasn’t in decoration, fitting and furnishings, but it was the […]
The Life of an Architect – Part 1 : Communication
As Architects we are passionate about our profession – we must be, as becoming an Architect takes a long and demanding period of study and practical training before we can legally use the title. Architects understand the process of building but our role extends much further than design. We need to be great communicators. We […]
Reflections on my journey to become an Architect
On my first day of studying Architecture at the University of Strathclyde, one of the lecturers pulled out a card from his wallet and held it up to the room full of nervous students and asked us, “Does anyone know what this is?” The card was yellow with three letters on it, ‘ARB’. No one […]
Neil McAllister reflects on his 10 years at GLM
Ten years ago, the world was a different place. Gordon Brown was Prime Minister, George W. Bush was the American President and some things were the same – Vladimir Putin was the Russian President. The world was at the peak of a huge financial boom and people were spending like crazy. I started at GLM […]
Who Carries the Can?
We often have clients who want to handle their project without our assistance when it comes to the site phase. Whilst we are happy to tailor our service to suit the client’s requirements, it is important to clarify who is responsible for the quality of the project should the Architect be left out of the […]
Tell me a story and I’ll design you a house
One of the most important stages of a building project is the briefing process. Somehow, everything that is spinning around in the mind of a client has to be transferred into the mind of the Architect who they now tentatively realise they need to engage with in some shape or form. Although this information will […]