October 2009

Work has continued to improve over October with the completion of the last of our programme of new build care homes completed in Cumbernauld, Wellwynd Church Community Hub progressing on site, submission of Glenboig Community Life Centre for Planning and a new commission to design a new campus for the YMCA/YWCA in Cumbernauld. This along with a good number of smaller projects is really keeping us busy and the majority of work is interesting, challenging and heavily design orientated.

Both of my submissions to the Architect’s Eye photography Competition made the shortlists in each of the categories entered. The first being ‘Hope is Important’ , a photo taken at Maggie’s Centre in Dundee by Frank Ghery in the Architecture and Place Category and “matrix’ in the Architecture and People category taken at OMA’s Central library in Seattle. Decided to go to London for the exhibition in November and take in some other events too.

'Hope is Important'

I think this photograph works on several levels although it is not technically very good. The sky, the human figure, the shine of the undulating roof all contribute to providing a sense of what the ‘place’ is. I love this building and think it shows that Ghery’s architecture can work at this scale as well as on his more usual grand scale.

matrix

This photo was taken just outside the entrance to Seattle Central Library and was a chance shot taken as the guy reading a book brushed past me and walked away along the walkway with the light filtering through the structure of the building. i only noticed a further person in the photo when looking at a large scale version to submit to the competition, see if you can spot them! I have had an amazing response to this photo on my Flickr page and think this was the stronger of both my entries.

Competitions and Awards are nice and can certainly help from a business and marketing perspective and prizes are great to get, however, I think anyone working in the creative industries should be more concerned with their personal satisfaction and that of their clients than seeking plaudits from judging panels. I was annoyed recently when I submitted several buildings for local awards (at a cost for entries) and the judging panel never even visited the buildings which can only truly be appreciated by experiencing first hand for many reasons. I know it sounds like sour grapes, but I have thought about it this way and still feel a bit aggrieved to be dismissed without even a visit.

I had 2 planning applications approved during October, one for the house extension discussed in my July post and the other for a refurbishment and extension of an existing Children’s House in Coatbridge, a continuation of the work we have been doing for North Lanarkshire Council Social Work Department for the past 5 years.

Buchanan Street Children's House

I am now planning to put together, along with my client, a record of the work we have done on the development of Children’s care facilities as I have found that although there is plenty of information on nurseries and school facilities, there is very little on residential care for children and there are many things we have learned and developed over the programme of work completed to date.

The days are getting shorter, darker, wetter and colder and I am hoping that we don’t have as long and drawn out a winter as last year, roll on Spring!

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September 2009

Managed to get round a few interesting buildings during Doors Open weekends in North Lanarkshire and Glasgow. First weekend was taken up visiting St Patrick’s, Scared Heart and St Bride’s Churches, all by Gillespie Kidd and Coia.  The churches were designed for the Catholic Church and are attributed to Andy MacMillan and Isi Metzstein who were responsible for the design output of the practice from 1956. I have a long personal connection with the buildings of GKC having been born in one, Bellshill Maternity, went to High School in one, Our Lady’s High School, and having been to mass several times in Sacred Heart while growing up in Cumbernauld. I also studied architecture at Glasgow School of Art while Professor Andy MacMillan was Head of Architecture at the school and had many crits from both Andy Macmillan and Isi Metzstein.

St Patrick's Kilsyth

St Patrick’s is situated on a sloping site and is set back from the road with a large forecourt. Although the style is distinctly modernist, there is influence from traditional Scottish architecture.

The huge soaring roof almost floats above the huge brick walls, supported on unfeasibly slender columns which disappear into the walls.

Natural light floods through the full height windows on the West Elevation. The priest who was very helpful and allowed us access throughout the church explained how he is blinded at certain times of the year as the sun floods in and some blinds have been placed strategically to avoid this.

St Patrick's Interior

Sacred Heart is in the New Town of Cumbernauld. I was brought up a catholic in Cumbernauld and attended mass here several times and always remember the effect of the colourful light  It’s main feature is the stunning stained glass by Sadie McLellan. It is quite an atmospheric interior and is hugely contrasting to St Patrick’s with natural light only coming from the stained glass windows and rooflights above the altar.

Sacred Heart, Cumbernauld

stained glass by Sadie McLellan

The interior is almost unexpected as the exterior is fairly understated and it is tucked away in a rather run down housing area.the sculptural rooflights let natural light flood down over the altar and the ceiling over the main body of the church is lined in timber which is set off the walls giving the impression it is floating.

Sacred Heart Altar

The third stop was probably one of GKC’s best known Churches, St Bride’s in East Kilbride. Loved and hated by many it really is an essay in architecture. There was formerly a Bell Tower or ‘Campanile’ on the site which was demolished in 1983. The story goes that there was no drawing showing the height of the tower and the bricklayers would ask daily how high they were to go. It was only when the architects turned up one day to see where they had built to and said ‘yip, thats about right there’.

St Bride's East Kilbride

There is a completely different feel to this building also. Someone said that they felt ‘like they were trapped in a brick’ and compared the building to a Rothko painting where he is trying intentionally to make the viewer feel uneasy.

St Bride's interior

For me, this is the most modernist of the three churches, with definite Corbusian influence which the architects would freely admit. I love the ceiling and the huge copper clad ‘light cannons’ that shed light over the altar.

GKC’s body of work for the Catholic Church has been plagued with problems and a number have now been lost. Heating these large spaces was difficult and expensive and water penetration has been an ongoing problem. That apart, these are some of the most important buildings in Scotland and have been listed to help protect them.  I would recommend visiting them, especially St Bride’s, in order to fully explore and appreciate the details and spaces created. There was a book published following the recent exhibition on Gillespie Kidd and Coia which is worth tracking down.

A lot more photos on my Flickr site and check out the Glasgow School of Art archive on Flickr

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August 2009

August, like July has continued to be hectic, Wellwynd Church Project is progressing on site and our new project in Glenboig is taking shape. The Glenboig ‘Life Centre’ is a community led project to create a centre within the village to provide facilities that have been needed to replace existing facilities outgrowing their use and provide for a population which has almost doubled in the past 5 years. The site is within the village park and overlooks a small loch.

Elevations

The site was formerly Glenboig brickworks. Glenboig bricks were shipped throughout the UK and the rest of the world and where renowned for their quality. I have tried to draw on the industrial history of the site in the design of the building and propose a tower/sculpture made from reclaimed Glenboig brick as a lasting tribute to the industry that helped build the community . I have also used materials that I think will blend well with the park setting. A copper cladding that will darken and age well in its landscape creating forms that echo the former factories on the site.

Glenboig Brickworks, early 20C

A public consultation took place on 5th September which had a tremendous turnout and a positive response from everyone and I hope to have a planning application made in the next few weeks.

Our next Children’s House is due to be completed in the next few days. I have been resisting taking photos yet due to the constant miserable weather but I am sure I will posting some in my September post. We have now completed 4 new builds and a refurbishment for the NLC Social Work Department and have this month lodged a planning application for a complete remodelling and extension of another property in Coatbridge.

I have now used the newly introduced e-planning system a couple of times and although I have concerns over copyright due to our drawing now being freely downloadable and that the neighbour notification process isn’t quite as straightforward as it seems, on the whole I think it is a great leap forward. No longer will anyone have to go all the way to planning department to view drawings which the majority of people never got around to, they can just look them up and comment on line. I think it will promote more debate about design and has certainly let me see what else is going on from the comfort of my sofa!

Suffered Lars Von Trier’s ‘Anti-Christ’. It was really painfull to watch, some beautifully filmed scenes, however, I found it completely self indulgent. Tarantino’e Inglourious Basterds is a bit of a return to form, not to be taken seriously by any means, but enjoyable none the less.

Treated myself to a new HD tv and the new PS3 which doubles as a BluRay player. The difference from my former tv is unbelievable and think I am going to spend a lot more time watching films!

Severe lack of photography this month again mostly due to the depressing weather and being busy at work. Helped out on a wedding shoot in Dunkeld but don’t think I am cut out for that type of thing.

September plans include a lot more work, but got some gigs to look forward to including Pixies, Massive Attack and The Longcut. Maps has a new album out shortly too so expecting a tour soon.

Thinking of a long weekend trip soon and getting away somewhere hot at New Year.

July 2009

After my rant last month I have to admit that July has been my busiest and most successful in the past few years. A sod cutting ceremony is taking place on Monday(10th August) for our new conversion and extension of Wellwynd Church into a community business centre(below) and we were successful in our tender to design a new £2.5m ‘Life Centre’ in Glenboig, North Lanarkshire which I have been busy researching, consulting and designing  over the past few weeks. Early days for images but I will be posting some soon as planning is to be lodged in September.

Having watched Channel 4’s The Home Show with George Clark I think on the whole what he does is great but I have always been wary about the fact that although he points out that VAT is 15% of people budget he doesn’t mention that in reality fees for an architect, project manager and interior designer would take up another chunk of a budget. I havealso been critical that the show is unrealistic in that clients never come up with a cheque book and say do what you can with that and we will move out while you do it….until now!  A client walked into our office and asked us to go and see his house, gave us a brief (ie change interior, exterior, decorate and  furnish and presented us, not quite home show style, with his overall budget. It is a challenging but welcome task and we are moving quickly to get designs together.

Another client walked into our office recently, not a common thing I would add, and asked us to look at extending and refurbishing their house. They had designs done previously but wanted a fresh look at what could be done. Without being too critical, their house is a typical mass develpment type timber frame house that you see thrown up around the country and although we have worked on these houses before it has mainly been disability extensions which have are needs and grant driven. It has been a bit of a challenge come up with how to extend a house of this type in a contemporary manner and havving produced a workable floor plan to meet the clients needs and lifestyle we have decided to take a fairly minimal approach to the external treatment of the extension. We have used facing brick to tie the extension to the existing predominent materials used in the area with some timber infill to a storage area to soften the side elevation and large bifolding doors to connect the internal living area to the garden. Although the large opening glazed doors to the garden has become the ‘done thing’ these days, the reason is quite simple, it works and it looks great. The investment in putting the right doors in though is a must and substituting cheap upvc alternatives can ruin the whole feel of a modern addition to a home.

subtle extension to typical mass development house type

I have been involved with an organisation trying to promote the development of a museum facility in Scotland dedicated to the involvement of Scots in all conflict throughout the world of the years. Although there has been a lot of support there is very little progress mostly due to the current economic climate. The group have an exhibition in the foyer of the Mitchell Library in Glasgow covering the recently formed Royal Regiment of Scotland which runs until 22nd August. I designed the posters for the exhibition which can be seen on on my February 2009 post.

I had a trip through to Edinburgh to see the Spain exhibition currently running at the National Gallery. An interesting collection of paintings including Goya and Picasso, the exhibition celebrates Spanish Culture through the eyes of British artists and collectors. Apart from the obvious selections such as Picasso’s Weeping woman, I particularly liked ‘The Bullring, Algecirus’ by Joseph Crawhall.

The Bullring Algecirus by Joseph Crawhall 1891

The bull looks defiant in the face of impending doom, still standing stoic almost aware of it’s fate, blood staining the legs of the horse and the bull’s neck where it has no doubt been stabbed repeatedly throughout the theatre of its death. The faceless Picador’s almost have their heads bowed in reverence while a banderillero looks poised to leap the fence behind.

The exhibition runs until 11th October and costs £8 or £6 concessions

Official opening of Motherwell Children’s House is on 13th August and by all accounts the new residents are enjoying their new home.

Various reports seem to suggest the recession is coming to an end although there still seems to be very little movement in the residential market. I am awaiting a couple more tender results however my current workload is enough to last 12months which is an amazing thing to say even in the best of times!

August will be a busy month and with the weather the way it is there aren’t too many distractions.

June 2009

Since returning from holiday at the start of June I have been working on finishing another children’s house, preparing to start a community business centre in Aidrie and putting together 2 tenders for architects services.

The completed children’s house in Motherwell is the third we have completed for North Lanarkshire Council and are the result of over 5 years worth of work. The 4th is due for completion in Cumbernauld within the next month and I intend to write about the whole process once this is complete. The programme of work has been quite unique and there is not much written on this type of building in comparison to other types of residential ‘care’ buildings and interest has been shown by other councils looking to develop their own provision to meet the standards set by the Care Commission.

Activity Space, Chldren's House, Motherwell

The tender process for putting a design team together is quite an involved process which is ,more often than not, unsuccessful unfortunately. We do win from time to time but the number we need to enter and the time involved in doing so is disproportionate, time consuming and costly. The process is largely architect led which means there is more time involved putting the right team together, gathering and collating all information and presenting this in a professional manner. No matter how often I try to standardise information to make this process quicker, questions are asked in different ways which means tailoring to suit each individual tender questionnaire.

This whole process is hugely flawed, dfficult for smaller practices to be succcessful, and quite often the tender process is only used through the neccesity of the client to meet funding regulations or legislation when they already know who they really want to work with, the result being, a lot of wasted time and effort from practices that can ill afford the cost in the current climate.

I managed to get up to Dundee to see Balgay Hill, a play by Simon Macallum . The play is an interweave of characters influenced by growing up in Dundee and by the life of local legend  Billy Mackenzie, singer in the Associates. A fascinating way to deal with subject like this without just presenting a biography, Mackenzie’s story is told through the experience of the characters including a Dundonian returning home after yeas in America, a younger student putting together a video for a college project and a teenager looking to make a career in the pop industry.

Labyrinth, Maggie's, Dundee

Took time to have a look at the Frank Ghery designed Maggie’c Centre in the grounds of Ninewell’s hospital. My second Ghery building in the space of a month, I much prefer this more modest building to the extravagant EMP in Seattle. The building sits at the edge of a hill overlooking Dundee and has the recent addition of a lanscaped garden by Arrabella Lennox-Boyd. There is some quite literal reference to Scottish architecture with a Broch like tower breaking through the waves of the roof, but the composition seems to work in creating a welcoming but peaceful building which is immaculately detailed.

Maggie's Dundee, by Frank Ghery

Should have the results of the tenders I submitted during the next month so will hopefully have an upbeat post for July!

Seattle 3, St Ignatius

The morning I was due to leave Seattle after spending just over week there, I took a walk to Seattle University Campus to find The Church of St Ignatius by New York based architect Steven Holl. My journey took me through Freeway Park, designed by Lawrence Halprin’s office under the supervision of Angela Danadjieva, the bark is a brutalist landscape mixed with greenery the purpose of which was to provide a barrier between the financial district and the busy freeway. Reading some of the press on the park it seems to have a poor history of crime, however steps have been taken to clean this reputation up and there was no sign of this the few times I passed through it, there just seemed to be a few office workers taking a break enjoying the sun.

Freeway Park Seattle

I love the concrete and the massing of the sculptures, the way nature is staining the concrete green, being able to climb and jump across the structures with the water flowing below, it seemed like a real haven in the centre of the city.

The very friendly Seattleites that stopped me as I studied my by now well worn map had less of a clue than I did of how to find the Church and being a Sunday morning, probably thought I was a keen church goer rather than a lapsed catholic atheist architect who had got out of his bed for the first time to go to church on a Sunday in 20years!

I had previously only seen Steven Holl’s Sarphatistraat Offices in Amsterdam from behind a fence but have been interested in his sculptural approach to architecture and St Ignatius is an excellent example of his work.

St Ignatius, Seattle University

The chapel was designed as the Jesuit Chapel for Seattle University and is the concept is of ‘7 bottles of light in a stone box’. To get the full effect of the full effect of the light and how it changes I would have had to stay all day. The rooflights also act as a beacon at night.There was no mass on while I was there but I had the opportunity to walk round inside and enjoy the well lit internal space.

St Ignatius Interior

Holl’s treatment of the internal plasterwork catches the light and enhances the sculptural form of the building and everypart of the interior is swathed in natural light although where the light is coming from is not immediately obvious.

It is hard to describe a space like this as religious spaces, when successful, create a certain atmosphere that is extremely difficult to capture in a photograph. Although off the beaten tourist track in Seattle, it is only a short and pleasant walk from the main centre and worth a trip out for anyone interested in architecture or church buildings.

door detail

For more on St Ignatius and Steven Holl go to http://bit.ly/vEpIR

usa trip – Seattle 2

Seattle Public Library is a real stand out building among Seattle’s financial district tower-blocks. It’s cantilevering projections and distinctive grid structure contribute to it’s strong and imposing street prescence. I took advantage of the free architectural tour provided by the library which takes about an hour and it was interesting to hear how successful and well used the library is(Thanks to Don).

It is said that Joshua Ramus, a former Seattleite, working for Dutch Architect Rem Koolhaas was contacted by his mother who noticed the advertisement for the competition to design Seattle’s new Public Library, which they entered and subsequently having sold their concept to the board, won against stiff competition from New York architect Steven Holl and another firm that I haven’t been able to get the name of. OMA then teamed up with local architects LMN to facilitate delivery of the project. There is a wealth of information on the building on the library web-site at http://www.spl.org/default.asp?pageID=branch_central_building&branchID=1.

The huge amount of glazing makes the natural light and the views out of the building quite breathtaking. The sequence of spaces that you move through while travelling through the building is reflect the varying uses with the meeting rooms at the centre of the building coloured a deep red colour, they are almost like the inner heart of the building and each of the escalators a distinctive yellow green signalling the vertical circulation.

The system of storing the books in the library in a giant spirl allows the collection to expand without disruption to the Dewey Decimal based system and formed a major part in the development of the form of the internal layout of the building.

Not being the usual type of building that tourists would visit being a library, I would recommend taking a look inside to anyone visiting Seattle. It is a public building and is free to everyone to go in and walk around. There is a shop selling card board cut out models of the building and many other interesting bits and pieces as well as a coffee shop which there is no shortage of in Seattle.

On leaving the lobby of my hotel one morning, someone asked the doorman if there was a Starbucks nearby, the doorman and I started laughing while the guy looked at us strangely, he wasn’t joking! Like anywhere in central Seattle you can’t walk 100yards without seeing a Starbucks!

USA Trip-Seattle 1

EMP, Seattle

Being a huge music fan and an architect I was eagerly anticipating my visit to Frank Ghery’s Experience Music Project in the Seattle. Early in art school I had been influenced by Ghery’s aerospace museum in Los Angeles while designing a museum project near Glasgow University and was blown away by  an amazing carved timber model for the Bilbao Guggenheim Museum which was on public display in Princes Square in Glasgow. I recall at the time wondering how on Earth they could ever build something like this and if they ever actually would!

I tend not to pay too much attention to architectural criticism of buildings and prefer to make up my own mind about them by visiting and experiencing them in the use they are designed for and this is precisely what I did.

There is no doubt that the external  form of the EMP has an immediate impact whether approaching on foot or by the monorail (built for the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair) that the building wraps around. Ghery’s ability to form shapes that defy gravity and create sensuous shapes has been proved elsewhere and is evident in parts of the facade of this building, however, to be blunt the building fails in some fundamental areas.

On eventually finding the main entrance to the building which is located in what I would describe as the ‘arse end’, there is a lack of natural light in the huge entrance area that you enter into which is provided with a shabby looking cafe which sells terrible pizza and not much else. The exhibits and music experience element of the building are good fun for all ages and I indulged in some of the hans on guitar, drums and even mixing exhibits, but the building itself adds nothing to this, they could have been housed in a warehouse with the same effect. It felt like the whole idea of form and function has been disregarded entirely.

I presume that the architectural rational for the building is linked to the music of Hendrix, Cobain etc. and, yes, I can see where this is expressed. For me though, this is far to literal and indulgent. To create architecture that parallels Hendrix and Cobain you can’t go for the worlds  ‘most sought after/desired/succesful’ architect. As much as I admire bold architecture, I think Paul Allen and Bill Gates could have invested in something, or someone, a bit more risky, a bit more like the local librarian did………….

Facade Detail

John Lautner: Between Heaven and Earth

I visited the excellent Lautner exhibition at the Lighthouse in glasgow. Lautner, without me knowing who he was, influenced me from an early age due to the use of his building in Diamonds are Forever and they have featured in many films and tv shows including Less than Zero, The Big Lebowski, lethal Weapon 2 and Body Double(check this for more http://www.johnlautner.org/wp/?p=32). Marbrisa or the Arango house was a huge influence on my end of year project during 1st year at Art School where we were to design a residence and recording studio on a clifftop overlooking the West Coast of Scotland (Craignish). I recall Isi Metzstein describing it at the most modern elevation he had seen all day however slated it for its open terraces being impractical in this location mocking with ‘What are they going to do there?Play ping-pong”. I always thought that if Isi even gave you the time to look through your drawings and provide an in depth critisism then there you must have done something right and his technique certainly prepares for reality.

John Lautner, Arango House, Acapulco, photographed by Julius Shulman

The exhibition is well worth the visit and I believe at this point it is its only European Destination after being shown in Los Angeles. There are some amazing models however I was more impressed by the original drawings on show. Having spanned a generation in an office that had one computer that took up a whole room, no mobile phones and a haze of smoke to a fully computerised age(I still have 1 drawing board in the office that I still frequently use), I am fully appreciative of the skill involved in the concept and construction drawings on show. I still believe that a line drawn by hand has more meaning  to the designer in the design proces than lines duplicated/copied/pasted on the computer.

The buildings of Lautner when used in film are generally used as the home of a gangster/drug dealer/villain. I see this as a positive in that they are so impressive and futuristic that they portray success and vision. I wonder how Lautner felt about Mel gibson destrying one with his pick up truck!

The Lighthouse, Scotland’s Centre for Design Architecture and the City is recommended as a destination for anyone visiting Glasgow. there are various design and architecture exhibitions on at all times and there is the permanent Mackintosh Interpretation Centre based there also.

The Lautner Exhibition runs until 26 July 2009

April 2009

April seemed to pass really quickly. It has been a busy month with the prospect of some nice new work and some current projects nearing completion. Two Children’s Houses in Motherwell and Cumbernauld are due for completion in June and the practice is busy ensuring everything goes to plan.

I also found time to put together a poster advertising the Glasgow Institute of Architects annual lecture featuring Professor Andy MacMillan and David Mackay of Barcelona based MBM Architects. The event featured two short films, one an interview with Andy and Isi Metzstein on their work with Gillespie Kidd and Coia, the other covering work by MBM, followed by a discussion revolving around cities. I first visited Barcelona in 1993 shortly after the olympics were held there, which was when I first discovered the architecture of Enric Miralles and was lucky enough to travel to Igualada cemetry and meet the architect himself. I visited the olympic harbour development masterplanned by MBM which was a bit of a ghost town as it hadn’t been fully occupied since the olympics but was impressed with transformation to the area. Barcelona remains one of my favorite destinations to date.

I turned 38 in April, so still think I am termed as a ‘young architect’, two years left to get into the 40 under 40 list!