Blog: 107 Niddrie Road
Niddrie Road is a quietly unassuming street, just along from Queens Park, in the southside of Glasgow. I myself have walked by, on my way from the Train Station towards the park, and never noticed this hidden gem that is 107 Niddrie Road. I suppose it was designed to blend in, and despite its subtlety, it doesn’t fail to impress me in its quiet brilliance. The project I am referring to is the deep retrofit of a traditional tenement block on Niddrie Road, containing eight, one-bed flats. This isn't any standard retrofit however, this pushed the boundaries of possible energy [...]
Blog: Trongate
RKA’s Glasgow office is in the Merchant City area, located just off Trongate. The name of this thoroughfare has intrigued me since we moved in and is the subject of this blog. Trongate is one of the oldest streets in the city of Glasgow, it begins at Glasgow (Mercat) Cross, where the steeple of the old Glasgow Tolbooth is situated, being the original centre of medieval Glasgow. The name Tron comes from the Scots word of Norman origin for weighing scales. These weighing scales were a weighbeam erected in the mid-16th century, used for all goods requiring to be weighed for duty reasons, including from early shipping on the Clyde and connected on the key route [...]
Blog: RKA Plaque
Etched Brass and Walnut Timber Wall Plaque I was flattered to be commissioned out of work by RKA to make a door plaque for the recently opened Glasgow office. Following a few design reviews with Richard and Chris, making sure I understood what they were after and informing them on what could be achievable at my end, we came to a resolved design for me to produce. Carefully, using the acid etching process I had experimented with on a small custom RKA branded bottle opener, I was able to make the debossed practice logo into the brass, with a unique [...]
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: 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: Scottish Oceans Institute
2019 Architect: BMJ Architects The Scottish Oceans Institute is a newly developed and refurbished research facility in St Andrews focussing on marine science. The £16.5 million development is to become a hub for maritime research for both Scotland and the rest of the globe- this building is a testament to Scotland's commitment to our oceans and marine life. The newly refurbished building hosts a multitude of collaborative spaces used for research and teaching alongside the all-important temperature-controlled environments for marine life to thrive and be analysed. This is all located under the roof which symbolises our ocean waves creating a [...]
Blog: Laidlaw Music Centre
2020 Architect - Flanagan Lawrence Client - University of St Andrews After meeting a potential client on Queens Terrace I stumbled upon the new St Andrews Music School, now open and the first time I’d seen it since the scaffolding was removed. A handsome building and a new piece of Architecture Fife can be proud of. The quad that has been created in front of the Bute building adds to the public realm and enhances the historic building. The Music school mediates the traditional site and a modern building with the use of stone, in keeping with the location, and [...]
