Konishi Gaffney Architects has won an invited competition to rework a former church in Edinburgh – the current home of the Greyfriars Charteris Centre. We saw off a strong shortlist to win the job which includes a new build three storey link building and major alterations to the existing church.
We were pleased to have been commended in the DIA awards 2017 for our project for studio / office spaces at Comielaw steading.
Construction work has begun on a cottage near Crinan in Mid Argyll. We’re demolishing an existing conservatory, shown here, and forming a new extension behind with exposed trusses and a metal sinusoidal roof.
November | December issue
Beauty and the East! Words by Caroline Ednie. Photography by David Barbour
Kieran wrote a review article for the RIBA Journal on a new house by Ann Nisbet in Ayrshire.
link to RIBAJournal
Third book in three weeks, this time the expensively assembled Home, Housing Scotland 2000-2020.
It is interesting as an overview of award winning houses in Scotland in the 21st Century.
We have two projects included.
Bowhouse in Fife is open for business.
Our steading / farm sheds conversaion is partially open with food producers taking space and a monthly farmers market installed in-situ. Last weekend saw a number of local suppliers selling food from coffee to honey and steaks to beer. Yum.
Phase 2 is underway and our major architectural intervention in detail design.
We’re pleased to be included in a new book on Contemporary Timber Architecture in the UK by Peter Wilson and Wood for Good.
Our hand out information sheet for the Edinburgh Doors Open day 2017, this house which won teh EAA 2017 small projects award is featured. http://www.cockburnassociation.org.uk/edinburgh-doors-open-day/
Our wonderful clients at 2 Ravelston Dykes Lane are opening up their house for doors open day 2017, this weekend. The house is open on Sunday 24th September from 10am – 4pm.
We’ll be there too showing people around.
Published in House Beautiful, September 2017
We’re pleased to have had two houses selected by the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland for a new book on the best architect houses in Scotland since 2000.
Kieran and Makiko spent 3 and 4 weeks respectively in Japan this summer, there for a family gathering and followed up with trips to see buildings. Kieran stayed in a Buddhist temple in Koyasan as well as re-visiting Naoshima to see Tadao Ando’s work and new buildings by Satoichi Sambuichi.
This unusual extension in the garden of a large Georgian House in The Grange was approved for planning. Housing a kitchen / living / dining and study.
Planning permission was granted today for this extension and internal alterations to a small Victorian terraced cottage in Edinburgh.
Our project at Ravelston Dykes Lane won a commendation from the Saltire Society’s Housing Design Awards.
We’ve taken on the role of steam bent timber cladding sub-contractor as we could ony find a couple of furniture / boat making companies prepared to take on the role and they were naturally quite expensive for such a specialist task. We researched the process, built our own steam box and jig and spent 6 days on site bending and cladding this little side extension.
We believe that architects who are hands-on in the process of construction are better designers for it so this suited us and we enjoyed getting a tan in sunny Glasgow.
This is classed as technical research.
Our Comielaw project is published in the June 2017 edition of On Office magazine.
The Scottish First Minister visited our office today. I talked to her about our 3 main concerns:
1. Building Control in Scotland: 3-4 month delay on every project, stiffles innovation, beaurocratic. Should be privatised out of local council’s hands as is done in the English building control system.
2. Procurement – impossible for small practices like ours to get public work.
3. VAT is payable at 20% on alterations and 0% on new builds: unfair & encourages unsustainable development.
Konishi Gaffney won the 2017 Edinburgh Architecture Association award for best building under £500,000 and were shortlisted in a further two categories.
Link to the award winners announcement.
We are delighted to have been shortlisted for 3 projects in 3 different categories by the EAA in the Small Projects, Wood Award and Ambassador categories.
Link to the 2017 awards shortlist.
Kieran is talking at the University of Dundee on Thursday 19th January.
