Blog: Kölner Dom
It had been 8 years since I had gone back to the city I grew up in; Cologne. Cologne is one of the oldest cities in Germany with a deep Roman History. Going back after so many years, I got to appreciate the city in a different light. Cologne has a wide variety of architecture throughout the city, from Romanesque churches to Brutalist buildings and contemporary crane houses. However, the structure that you will notice first arriving is the cologne cathedral called the ‘Dom’. Throughout most of my childhood the Dom was constantly hidden away by scaffolding, meaning I [...]
Blog: Glasgow School of Art
As you have noticed in our previous blog we have recently opened a new RKA office in Glasgow, in the city centre to be precise. If we talk about Glasgow we cannot overlook the name of Charles Rennie Mackintosh (1868-1928), and his influence within architecture and art in Scotland, but mainly within the City of Glasgow. His most famous work and that which represents his legacy is The Mackintosh Building, which is part of The Glasgow School of art. In this blog we will address a little of the tragic history of this important building, a hotbed of talent and [...]
Blog: 1.5 Years with RKA
The past 1.5years has seen a fantastic growth in projects and clients, both in scale and number. I picked up a number of residential projects Richard and the current team had established, all at various stages and some of which you might recognise from our RKA blog. For much of that time, we have all worked from home, waiting out COVID19 restrictions with interactions predominantly virtual and online. It was a very interesting hybrid work model that, despite the difficulties of distance, has seen a very a steady growth in our team and work culture. During this period, the St [...]
Blog: Our Lady of Good Counsel
Our Lady of Good Counsel. Dennistoun, Glasgow. Architect: Gillespie Kidd and Coia Completed in 1968 Had you been asked to imagine a category A listed Catholic church, you would’ve been forgiven for imagining images of spires and a crucifix form, with tall stained-glass windows populating the elevations which then allow light to cascade upon a rigorously ordered nave. However, this time you couldn’t be more wrong. Almost bunker-like in its brutalist appearance, Our Lady of Good Counsel lacks almost any architectural characteristics of a church and had it not been for the cross above it’s doors you may not have [...]
Blog: LDN to ST.A
Perhaps one of the only good things to come out of the pandemic is the ability for us all to work remotely opening up the options for where and how we work, much less restrictive on location. I recently relocated back to my home city of Glasgow at the end of 2021 and the opportunities for remote working has allowed me to team up once again with Richard on the opposite side of the country after spending many years working together at Orms. Having lived and worked in London for the past 11 years moving from a 65 strong architectural [...]
Blog: RKA in Glasgow
Moving out of London was such a joy in so many ways but from a business point of view it was a shock. From an established business network in London with everything that goes with that to a smaller business environment in Fife where long established connections exist and the large consultancy group events are much less prevalent was a challenge. Through hard work, investment in marketing, a strong CV and some lucky breaks we’ve been able to make connections and have been fortunate to be appointed on some fabulous projects. However the drive to push the business forward and [...]
Blog: Union Terrace Gardens, Aberdeen.
Architect: Stallan Brand Year Completed: Ongoing Union Terrace Gardens is currently undergoing some major and exciting development works that hope to improve the relationship of the city's main thoroughfare, Union Street, to the sunken garden space. I lived in Aberdeen for 6 years during my Architectural education and a year post education, and in that time there were very few architectural schemes to get overly excited about. With the opening of the refurbished Art Gallery and the various other projects happening nearby (some more successful than others) it is an exciting time for Aberdeen and it's residents. The Union Terrace [...]
Blog: Alhambra Theatre, Dunfermline
Architect: John Fraser Year Completed: 1922 Many times when we talk about architecture we think only of new buildings, where the architect's job is to think and design from scratch how these new spaces will look and feel. This idea is not far from reality but it is also the work of architects to preserve buildings that were once an important part in the history and daily life of certain places. Many buildings end up being demolished for different reasons such as high maintenance costs, the dynamics of the place have changed or simply due to lack of interest. Last [...]
Blog: Ayr Grammar Primary School
Architect: BDP Completed: 2021This project is about re-use and a re-imagination of historic education buildings as a new facility for teaching, learning and community spaces. It cleverly integrates new additions with the refurbishment of the listed buildings. An unexpected element of the project is a large archive facility, space created where an old moat had been infilled. The archive rooms do not require light so enabled the school playground to be doubled in size as part of the archive roof design. The particular aspects of the scheme that I considered to have particular merit were the central hall used for dining [...]
Blog: What’s it called? … Cumbernauld.
Architect: Geoffrey Copcutt Completed: 1963 What’s it called?... Cumbernauld. A slogan from a 1980s advert to promote the new town of Cumbernauld and encourage families to relocate there, to alleviate Glasgow’s housing problem. This Blog will explore how “Britain’s most hated building”, The Cumbernauld town centre, represents an idea and concept of community living; how it fell short of that idea including the many influences that worked against the scheme that were not related to its design. It was planned that Cumbernauld would not only look different, but it would also be different from other towns with every amenity centring on [...]
