Great to have our work recognised in an article in the Guardian weekend, and a great interview with our lovely clients Ina and James

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/oct/21/edinburgh-garage-conversion-studio-play-space

Chambers McMillan will be attending the Private View for the Architecture open at the RSA this Friday. Our film (filmed by Bee and Greta) of the Route Through the Ramp House Features in the exhibition. 

this chapel conversion to a lifetime home, uses different levels of space to articulate the open plan in an accessible way.

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a new room, providing a living space which connects the house to the garden, with clerestory windows to allow in light whilst keeping privacy from the lane.

An important part of the design process at Chambers McMillan includes consultation and engagement. Here are some of our creative workshops, which have informed the design process. 

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• den building outdoors

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• den building indoors

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• Towerbank children drawing spaces

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• designing healing spaces

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The principle of the ramp house was to design and build a family home for a little girl who is a wheelchair user, where the whole house enables her to lead a barrier free included life. We are often confronted with the physical barriers that the built environment presents; in our own home we were able to design a fully inclusive place; using a ramp to access all levels, provides an equality of space to us all. We have designed spaces along the ramp, connecting both horizontally and vertically, so that the experience of the house changes as it unfolds.

The difference that the ramp makes is in how the spaces are experienced; this is both linear and sectional, and the opportunities to look back or forward into other spaces. The ramp contributes both width and height to each of the different pausing places along the way. As we inhabit the house, we can see how this provides variation, complexity, and flexibility in the everyday use of the house, how many spaces can be used concurrently and how it reaches its potential when it is inhabited: movement around it, by foot or on wheels brings the experience to life.

For us as a family, the design of this house has made a difference to our everyday life: for a child who cannot move around independently, the connectivity of the spaces becomes all the more important. If Greta is in the living room, there are six different spaces that we can be in and move between, and she is still able to see and hear us, and communicate with us. Because of the articulation of the different spaces within the open plan, there are many opportunities for privacy and seclusion whilst still being part of the life of the house.

It was important that our home should be a place belonging to the children as well as to us; to ensure this we included them in the design process; to enable this process we worked mainly with models helping the children to understand how spaces might feel and how they might connect.

It has been crucial to us that we remain in the centre of our community where Greta was born; building this house here has enabled her to remain a loved part of Portobello. Our accessible family home allows her friends to come and play in a built environment designed to enable her to play just like any other eight year old. The wider impact of an inclusive house like this, is that people who come to visit us experience a different way of moving around a house, and understand that accessibility does not need to be about constrictions, but can be a delight.

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• occupying the ramp

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• articulated open plan

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• the whole house

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• the kitchen

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• baking for all

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• child's bedroom

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• the ramp from the street

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• bridge over the pool

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• the ramp as part of the space

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• front garden

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• architecture for all

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• library

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• pausing in the Ramp House

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• speeding on the ramp

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• the ramp house

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the Rings wheelchair accessible holiday cottages

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Lovely to see one of our early projects for good friends in Build It; a great family home and party house! 

Spring Newsletter – sign up for future newsletters

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The Rings, two wheelchair accessible holiday cottages in Fife, are now open and ready to be visited. Chambers McMillan have been involved from concept design, and have applied our specialist accessible design knowledge to achieve a building which is both an inclusive and restful place to stay.

The Rings

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A design for an accessible home in South West London.

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Our RIAS shortlisted urban bothy. A conversion of a garage into a family room at the end of the garden: provides space for sewing, family projects, drumming, sleep overs, and a workshop. The garden elevation connects to the garden, and visually to the house, with a long window bench, between inside and outside.

as featured in The Guardian weekend https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/oct/21/edinburgh-garage-conversion-studio-play-space

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accessible family home

Two artists needing studio space: the tall north facing dormer window creates a space for painting, whilst the more contained space behind becomes a focussed smaller scale creating space.

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  open plan living

  

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  accessible ground floor conversion

  

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  connecting spaces along the length of the plan

  

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Last week we celebrated the ground breaking for The Rings wheelchair accessible holiday cottages, with Fergus Ewing Scottish Minister for Tourism, Energy and Enterprise. This project has been through quite a process with planning, despite having an SDRP grant for the Scottish Government’s Farm Diversification Project. The Minister spoke about the importance of accessible tourism and described the building as iconic and world class: we now look forward to these cottages being built, and offering people the chance to have a fully accessible and restful holiday in the beautiful Fife countryside.

in this rural setting the landscape becomes the inspiration for the forms of the building.Chambers McMillan and our client Moira Henderson

We were delighted to be awarded Architectural Excellence for the Ramp House at last night’s Scottish Home Awards. It was a fab night, and we had a great time with the Orkney Builders whose table we were at. Here is the Press Release from the Scotsman: (obviously we didn’t convert a bungalow!)

Media Release

Friday 20 June 2014

SCOTLANDS BEST HOMEBUILDERS CELEBRATED AT INDUSTRY AWARDS

The best new homes in Scotland have been revealed at the 7^th annual Scottish Home Awards 2014 held in Edinburgh last night.

The Commonwealth Games Athletes’ Village in Glasgow delivered by City Legacy was the evening’s major winner, collecting three awards on the night.  The team won Community Partnership of the Year, City Apartment of the Year and Starter Home of the Year.

18 awards in total were presented across all budgets covering luxury housing, affordable flats and designer conversions with properties in Elgin, Paisley, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dundee, Aberdeenshire and North Berwick all collecting prizes.

Elgin-based, Springfield Properties collected the ultimate award for the second year in a row, the Scottish House Builder of the Year Award 2014 after notching up an impressive year of business and also collecting the Sales and Marketing Team of the Year Award.

Springfield built over 300 homes in 2013 to suit a range of budgets.  Their marketing campaign, branded Springfield Choices, created a 37% increase in sales and reinforced their strategy delivering bespoke homes created by their customers.

Housing Association of the Year went to Dundee and Perth based Caledonia Housing Association which manages 4,000 homes in Tayside, Fife and the Highlands and employing over 190 people in care and support services.

Luxury builder, CALA Homes, picked up two awards on the evening winning House of the Year for The Darroch in Woodilee Village, Lenzie while in the East, their McRae house in North Berwick collected the prize for Show Home of the Year.

The Castlewell development in Aberdeenshire, a community-driven development of new housing in Ellon won Housing Development of the Year award for Barratt Developments after the judges praised their exceptional approach to architecture and community engagement.

While in East Lothian the Conversion of the Year Award was collected by Lorn Macneal Architects for St Andrews Court, a small development of apartments in the desirable seaside town of Gullane.

Architectural Excellence for a single dwelling went to Chambers McMillian for The Ramp House in Edinburgh, a bespoke conversion of a bungalow dramatically redesigned to cope with the demands of a child with a physical disability.

Chair of the judging panel, the Scottish property journalist, Kirsty McLuckie, commented;

“We had a large number of contenders to consider with entries in their high hundreds again this year.  This competition isn’t like other programmes.  It’s clearly highly regarded, rigorously tested and really tough to win.  Congratulations to all our winners.”

The Scottish Home Awards programme is sponsored by property management company, Ross and Liddell.

Andrew Cunningham, Director, commented:

“The Scottish Home Awards continues to go from strength to strength.  Ross and Liddell are very happy to support this important programme which recognises the hard work and achievement of individuals and teams across the industry.   Congratulations to all our winners this year and we wish them continued success.”

400 guests attended the event held at the EICC and were hosted by DJ’s Grant Stott and Arlene Stuart.  Irish comedian, Andrew Ryan, provided after dinner entertainment.

The event, created in 2007 by KDMedia, has raised over £70,000 for charity with this year’s proceeds going to local charity It’s Good 2 Give to help build an incredible home for families with children affected by cancer – further information at www.itsgood2give.co.uk

THE WINNERS IN FULL

Affordable Housing Development of the Year (private builders)

Cruden Homes (East) Ltd / Places for People Scotland – Choice, Craigmillar, Edinburgh

Large Affordable Housing Development of the Year (Housing Associations) sponsored by Aareon UK

Loretto Housing Association – Charleston Square, Paisley

Small Affordable Housing Development of the Year (Housing Associations) sponsored by Bank of Scotland

Link Group Ltd – Tannahill Crescent, Johnstone

Architectural Excellence Award (single dwelling) sponsored by Stephens & George Print Group

Chambers McMillan – The Ramp House, Portobello, Edinburgh

City Apartment of the Year sponsored by Scotland on Sunday

City Legacy – The Water Lilly at the Athletes’ Village, Glasgow

Community Partnership of the Year

Winner – City Legacy – Commonwealth Games Athletes’ Village, Glasgow

Highly commended – Dunedin Canmore – Oxgangs Regeneration, Edinburgh

Conversion of the Year sponsored by Daw Signs  

Lorn Macneal – St Andrews Court, Gullane

Housing Development of the Year (private builders) sponsored by Cupa Pizarras

Barratt Homes – Castlewell, Aberdeenshire

House of the Year

CALA Homes (West) Ltd – The Darroch at Earl’s View, Woodilee Village, Lenzie

Rural Development of the Year sponsored by the Scotsman

North Ayrshire Council – St Beya Gardens, Isle of Cumbrae

Sales & Marketing Excellence Award sponsored by Wolffe

Springfield Properties

Senior Living Development of the Year

North Ayrshire Council – St Beya Gardens, Isle of Cumbrae

Show Home of the Year sponsored by Designer Contracts

CALA Homes (East) Ltd – The McRae, Gilsland Grange, North Berwick

Starter Home of the Year sponsored by Ross and Liddell

City Legacy – The Thistle at the Athletes Village, Glasgow

Small Housing Association of the Year

Craigdale Housing Association

Housing Association of the Year

Caledonia Housing Association

Small House Builder of the Year sponsored by Close Brothers

S1 Developments

House Builder of the Year sponsored by Space and Time Media

Springfield Properties

For images of the event and further information, please contact:

Kirsten Speirs or Kelly Manthorp KDMedia Ltd 0131 337 6232/ 07810434204

Kirsten@kdmedia.co.uk

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Good to be included in Scottish Government’s inspirational designs webpage

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Built-Environment/AandP/InspirationalDesigns/ProjectType/Singlehouseurban/TheRampHouse

we have just been granted planning for a painting / potting room in Morningside, a really nice project to work on, giving a boy a new inside-outside place to play

saltire plaque

We are delighted to have won a Saltire Housing Award for our Ramp House – it is now shining on the caithness wall at the front door. Here is what Lesley Riddoch, Chair of the Judging Panel said:

“We admired your determination to fit a house round you – not the other way round. You took a pint pot of a site and cleverly built a house just high enough to “borrow” views of all the fabulous gardens around. You created a house with a common way of moving about – not isolating your daughter into lifts and hoists and it works beautifully. Connecting with one another via the ramps inside you also connect directly with the street outside via that lovely wee breakfast window. The whole house breathes confidence in its location, in one another and in your neighbours. Wonderful.”

We’ve just had the great news that The Ramp House has been shortlisted for the Saltire Housing Awards single dwelling.

Here is the press release:

Lesley Riddoch Unveils Saltire Awards Shortlist…With Scottish Minister Set to Present the Accolades

Saltire Society Housing Design Awards Guest Chair Lesley Riddoch has announced a diverse awards shortlist for 2013, with the scheme enjoying another year of encouraging submissions from across Scotland’s innovative housing stock.

The Society has also revealed that Scottish Cabinet Secretary for Minister for Housing and Welfare- Margaret Burgess MSP – will present the gongs at the 76th annual ceremony later this year.

The Society stated its delight at sustaining the quality of submission from previous Awards despite the hard times the housing market has seen in recent years. With schemes as remote as a striking new-build in Kilmaluag, Skye by Rural Design; and as diverse an Artist’s Residence, gallery and workshop in one by Fergus Purdie Architects up for the Awards.

The Society also reported that one of the shortlisted schemes was an affordable housing project within a wider regeneration initiative in Govan Glasgow, a progression that allies with their Housing Design Awards’ mission to encourage better quality housing and neighbourhoods for everyone in Scotland.

The 2013 shortlist for the new Innovation in Housing Award has also been revealed, and includes examples of innovation in the development of volume housing building and inner city residential neighbourhoods to better meet the needs of current and future residents. The award encourages original thinking in housing design and delivery in Scotland.

Welcoming the 2013 Shortlist, Ms Riddoch– who will select and present the Saltire Medal to her favourite project from this year’s entries – gave her reaction to this year’s submissions: “I was really impressed with the herculean effort shortlisted clients were prepared to put into creating a real home not just four walls and a roof. One couple chose to squeeze into a tiny, unlikely mews site and create an entirely stair-free, ramped interior to let their wheelchair-using daughter stay near friends and town facilities and have equal access throughout the building. Another combined an urban plot used by two different owners to build a unique three-storey house/gallery/office accessed only by outside stairs and yet another battled planners for almost a decade to build an extension beyond the original footprint of an old mill. One family used recycled material throughout – including old railways sleepers in the garden; another transformed hard-to-use attic rooms with bold dormer windows. All have shown that amazing, sustainable, bespoke homes lie within the reach of many Scots.”

Jim Tough, Executive Director of the Saltire Society said of the Awards in relationship to the Saltire Society’s aspirations:

‘We are delighted with the response to this long standing and influential commitment to encouraging and celebrating the very best design in the places we call home.’

The full 2013 Saltire Society Housing Design Awards Shortlist is as follows:

Large Scale Housing Development

– Dunsmuir Street, Govan: Anderson Bell + Christie Architects

Small Scale Housing Development

– Bridge of Dye, Banchory: NORD Architecture

Alterations, renovations and extensions

– Little Ennochie, Finzean, Banchory:Michael Rasmussen Associates

– Westbourne Drive, Bearsden: NORD Architecture

– Grange Loan, Edinburgh: Helen Lucas Architects

Single Dwelling – New Build

– The Ramp House, Portobello: Chambers McMillan Architects

– Artists Residence, Perth: Fergus Purdie Architects

– Passive House, North Berwick: Brennan & Wilson Architects

– Turf House, Kilmaluag, Skye: Rural Design

Innovation in Housing Award

– Stewart Milne Group Design Guide

– South Seeds Energy Snapshot Report

SALTIRE INTERNATIONAL STUDENT TRAVEL BURSARY

An Award to the value of £1500 will be made for a work of art and/or craft designed to enhance and enrich the built environment (in its broadest sense). Student artists and craftsmen working in any suitable medium were invited to enter a graduation piece for the 2013 award by nomination. The Award endeavours to enable the winner to pursue a research project, including international travel related to their practice. The winner will also receive an Award certificate and membership of the Society. The shortlisted candidates are;

Allison Secker                                      The Scott Sutherland School of Architecture

Anna Barbieri, Andy Casey,

Chlose Fawcett, Sniedze Riekstina    Glasgow School of Art

Marcus Rothnie                                   Edinburgh College of Art

Louise Paterson                                  University of Dundee

Lisa Irvine                                           University of Strathclyde

This inaugural award is granted through the generous sponsorship of the British Council Scotland.

The awards will be announced at a ceremony at the Lighthouse, Mitchell Lane, Glasgow on Monday 9^th September 2013

There will also be an exhibition of the shortlisted projects at the Lighthouse from 4^th September until 16^th October 2013.

For more information on the awards, the Saltire Society, and the judging panel please visit:

http://www.saltiresociety.org.uk/awards/architecture/housing-design/

-Ends-

Notes for Editors

Further images of shortlisted projects are available from Sarah Mason and Fergus Bruce.

Image copyright exists where expressed.

About the Awards

Our Housing Design Awards have been rewarding and advocating innovation and excellence in Scottish house building and place-making for longer than any other design awards in Scotland. They are a highly regarded, long-standing example of the Society’s commitments, aims and objectives.

Intended for Owners, Clients, Architects, House-builders and Housing Developers of all shapes and sizes, the length and breadth of Scotland – the awards have recognised everything from single dwellings in the remotest reaches of the Highlands, to large-scale commercial developments in the country’s major urban centres.

Successful entrants agree that recognition by the Society’s panel of industry leaders is a major enhancement to their image and profile, and a ringing endorsement of their work.

2013 marks the awards’ 76th anniversary, having been the very first Awards scheme initiated by the Society. Far from just glancing backwards at this proud history however, the awards have in recent years been re-imagined in a Scotland where the need to promote good design and housing for all is just as immediate as it was in the 1930s. We are once again looking forward, and seeking new entries from across Scotland.

About the Saltire Society

We believe we have an important and unique role to play, as an independent advocate and celebrant of all that is good and important about our cultural lives and achievements. We are working hard to refresh our work fit for changing times. The Society has played a crucial role over the last seventy five years, at times as a lone voice, in recognising our cultural achievement. And while times have changed the need for that independent voice remains.

We are;

• An apolitical membership organisation open to all
• An international supporter and patron of the arts and cultural heritage of Scotland
• A champion of free speech on the issues that matter to the cultural life of every Scot
• A promoter of the best of what we are culturally, now and in the future
• A catalyst to ensure new ideas are considered and the best of them are made real

About the British Council

British Council Scotland was established in 1946 in Edinburgh, with the purpose of promoting the best of Scottish culture and learning to the rest of the world; bringing foreign academics, engineers, students, policymakers and artists to Scotland and taking their Scottish counterparts abroad. Today our mission remains to promote Scotland’s cultural and educational assets on the international stage, with the objective of building enduring relationships and trust between the peoples of Scotland and other countries through an exchange of ideas, knowledge and information. 

British Council Scotland has global reach through a network of offices in 110 countries around the world.  It can pull together overseas knowledge, experience, views and perspectives, catalyse relationships, and provide confident comments on issues affecting Scotland’s profile and standing on the international stage.  And its overseas offices are a source of support and assistance in-country to visiting cultural and educational envoys from Scotland; knowing who the key players and most relevant institutions are.

Every three months a magazine called life style drops through our letterbox. You can’t buy this in the shops for love nor money, but is sent out to the 400,000 motability car owners. Each issue has at least one story of people who have taken their circumstances and used them to make things more accessible for others as well as themselves. Ian thought that they might want to know about our story so emailed them, and we were interviewed by a lovely journalist who understood our situation through her own experience. Since the magazine came out we have had a number of really lovely comments and enquiries, just reminding us how many people are in similar circumstances to ours, needing inclusive environments designed for them. It seems we are becoming a specialist practice without trying. lifestyle ability 

The new architecture policy is called Creating Places, which immediately conjures an image of places which are inclusive and rich in design: unfortunately the document itself fails to discuss (let alone promote) both the necessity and the creative benefits of designing physically accessible places. Whilst Scotland is very keen to look to Denmark for inspiration, unfortunately this document doesn’t look hard enough at what would actually make these places successful.

Having been part of the consultation process for the new policy, and having been disappointed at the complete lack of any mention of accessibility in the finished document, I was very happy to be asked by the Architects Journal for my views on it:

Architects’ Journal

I was involved in the consultation process, and was also part of a focus group which met to specifically discuss accessibility (Consultation on inclusive access as part of the development of the Scottish Government’s new policy on architecture and placemaking) but as you will notice from reading the policy, very little of this is reflected in the finished document, even though it was a varied group, and we had a constructive and broad-reaching discussion.

So my comment on the new Scottish architecture policy is that in order to make ‘successful places’, physical accessibility and inclusion needs to be considered at every point in the process. Not only is this fair and necessary, but thinking differently, designing places where barriers are removed opens up opportunities of moving through spaces differently, particularly important with Scotland’s changing demographic. Design that starts from a base of inclusivity and accessibility offers a much richer environment for everyone. You only need to experience some of the public spaces in Copenhagen (eg. SEB Bank and Pension, otherwise know as the skaters park, or Snohetta’s Opera House in Oslo)

Accessibility is only really mentioned right at the end of the document, in passing, whereas it should both permeate everything that is written, and have its own section (just like sustainability, cultural connections, and engagement). This lack doesn’t surprise me really given that RIAS refuse to let our practice state accessible design as one of our specialisms, but if Scottish Government are going to bring together people to discuss accessibility and inclusion, and if they are going to continually invite people from Denmark as keynote speakers, because they admire their approach to place making, then they need to think about how accessibility effects both positively and negatively every space that we design and use. The front page mentions how architecture should “enrich our lives as individuals and as a society” and this would have been a perfect opportunity to introduce inclusive design as a constructive and forward looking idea.

Scottish Design Awards 2013 – At this years award ceremony at the Radison Blu in Glasgow, we were absoloutely delighted to be first up on the stage and the winners of ‘Residential’ category for our wheelchair accessible family home:  The Ramp House.  Later on in the evening all the winners of architectural awards were put forward for the Chairmans Award for Architecture – Given the exceptional standard of all the work and the renown architectural practices, we were totally overwhelmed, and absolutely delighted, to also win this award.

http://www.scottishdesignawards.com/results

A nice reminder that the wood awards are still open to submissions: not sure if they included our (already submitted) Ramp House as a challenge (beat this) or as a provocation (this is all we have so far). Either way its a bit of publicity, so we are not complaining. Ian’s entry was written from Greta’s point of view: the touch, sound and smell of the wood being just as important as how it looks: towards a sensory architecture.

Just to announce that chambersmcmillan has a shiny new website! It’s another step in our transition from a ‘back of the envelope’ idea, to a fully fledged business.  The website incorporates much of the great content from our previous sites and blogs, with some more business and client-focused elements. We very much hope you like it!

Having just built our accessible family home, now seemed like as good a time as any to start up : we see every day how important it is that the built environment is made accessible to all, and so this has become our aim. Since moving in, we have had so many comments from friends and visitors that the ramp makes the house: on the one hand that they are not aware of it being an obviously ‘accessible’ house, but on the other hand how wonderful it is to have a ramp in a house (and could they have one too?). I think it is because the ramp makes you move around the house differently, and also because of the way that we have designed spaces off the ramp, these spaces connect, both visually and physically, differently. Its is proving to be a great house for children and a great party house: so many different places to stand and sit, whilst always being able to see who is there, and who is talking to whom.

So the idea that we could design spaces which are not only accessible to all, but also richer because of it, is a beginning for chambersmcmillan, and at the moment a very exciting thought. Since building our work desk last weekend, I have photographed (and Facebook posted) an image of the desk every day: I hope that this will document our progression, starting from an empty desk, lets see where this takes us.

day 1

day 2

d

day 3

d

day 4 cmcm

d

2 new colleagues

http://www.wordle.net/create

Thanks to a temporary ramp, Greta can now get into her new room on the first floor!Whilst the build is racing on everyday (regardless of all the rain) I am spending most of my time sourcing and applying to charities for funding to help us build the house. Unfortunately, over a year ago our local council stopped funding extensions to make houses accessible, and are now only able to support a wet room and a ramp up to the front door. Quite how families are expected to carry on using their family homes, when they need to carry their ever heavier children upstairs daily, I’m not sure. As a family with a child with additional support needs, it can get very wearing to constantly focus on the difficulties of life: we like to celebrate and enjoy all the things, large and small, that we find Greta and our whole family able to do. So I don’t want to dwell on the lack of support that the Council is able to provide. But it does mean that I am having to be creative in finding ways of funding this build (any suggestions welcome!). It is a really interesting process, and I am finding out about so many wonderful charities and foundations which have been set up, often due to people’s experiences, who provide so much help support and understanding for so many people. Unfortunately, a lot of charities don’t help with building adaptations: again I’m not sure why not, people’s homes are so important to them, and they need to work well in supporting and enabling them. It may seem as if we are in a very lucky situation of being able to build our own house, which we are, and we really appreciate all the support (and kind wishes) which we get from everyone we encounter; for us this is not only the best possibility, but the only possibility. To find a house in Portobello (where Greta is known and loved) which we could afford, and which we could then adapt to make it barrier-free would be impossible. Building from scratch gives us the chance to provide a house which will carry on supporting us as a family, and helping Greta’s growing independence into the future, but it also gives us the joy of seeing Greta enjoying the spaces of our home inclusively.

Any suggestions of creative fund raising ideas, please comment below.

Bee

Why would you choose to build your own house? As architects there is always a desire to create the spaces that you dream of, but this isn’t necessarily enough to give the impetus to actually start such a demanding project.

Greta

But what if most places you went to worked against you moving easily around it, every entrance was an obstacle to getting into the building, and every space had been designed with a mobile, upright person in mind?

Castelvecchio Verona – Bee

For our seven year old daughter, Greta, this is a daily occurrence: she cannot yet walk on her own, so she has a collection of wheeled buggies and a bicycle. As architects, we spend a lot of time visiting buildings, and as a child in a family of architects she and her sister have learnt to love exploring different spaces and places with us. And there are many that she loves being in. But many of them seem to have been designed specifically to hinder anyone who is not conventionally mobile. There are so many missed opportunities in our architectural spaces and places.

Gormley City Greta

So when we realised that Greta would need to live in a very supportive environment, we knew that was something that we could offer her. And it has been very exciting realising that an inclusive, barrier-free house is not just about being able to get from one floor to the other, or from the kitchen to the bedroom; when you consider movement around a house in a whole new way, it also offers a richness of experience of spaces that is beneficial to everyone.

Rem slope Bee

One of the most important things about designing our accessible family home, was that it should be a place that belongs to the children as much as it does to us; the best way to ensure this is to include them in the design process

Greta’s bedroom

space for my toys

Bee making sure her bedroom is her bedroom

Bee’s fimo Chambers McMillan family

Bee describing the house

Bee looking in

T looking in

Greta red-lining plans

Seven months down and two to go!  The site is feeling very active and busy with lots of different trades now on site.  This Wednesday had over a dozen busy bees set about their various tasks.  On the outside, the slate and the saranfil single ply membrane roof are now complete and all the windows are fitted.   The external stonework is about half way there.  It’s fitting into the context really well, as the stone has a good variation of colour.  The 25mm recessed pointing really picks out the horizontality of the stone and Beatrice’s coursing works really well.   The red cedar timber shingles, and their aroma, are on site and tantalisingly stacked up in the car port, and will start to go on next week after the flashings have been delivered and fixed.  The copper on the tower again will start next week.  The aim is for the scaffolding to be down in 3 weeks time which will be very exciting.  Internally, the ramp has been completed, and there is a real spatial delight in moving through a space in a changing vertical position.  The air guard system is being fixed and sealed, and will minimise any air leakage and associated heat loss.  From what looked like a simple and compact electrical system, a spaghetti like network of cables af first fix has evolved.  Internal partitions are also going up and being sheeted, starting to sculpt and refine the space into a hierarchy.  This week has also seen blacksmiths on site in the form of Ian’s Dad, making all the internal and external balustrades out of the 250kg of cold rolled 6m steel length which were mistakenly delivered to our house and had to be stored for a week in the back garden.  The first section of the metalwork is complete, with a simple staggered hit miss repeat of circular and flat bar, which gives an additional dynamic when moving along the ramp.

So all we need now is some moving boxes!

first Caithness wall

Stone:  Jura and Caithness

On the ground floor at the front of the building and around the entrance we are using Caithness stone.  Although from the very north of Scotland, it’s used to pave the streets of Edinburgh.

The Stone itself is extracted from a 3m high bed which lies under 4.5 – 9m of overburden. Caithness Flagstone is quarried from 16 principle layers split into a total of 49 individual flagstones, ranging in thickness between 20mm and 80mm .  It is from the Old Red Sandstone of Devonian age (370 million years old).

Stone can be expensive as a raw material and also in its laying.  To try and negotiate this fact, we used offcuts from paving stones which are in effect the ‘trimmings’.  These still need to be sawn cut to regularise them, but are about a third in cost of the riven faced stone.  The difficulty in laying comes from the varying heights of the stone which is a by-product of the natural bed thickness and requires the skill of a stonemason to piece the wall together.  Given the typical paving thicknesses are 40, 60 and 80mm, we decided to use these thicknesses to form courses similar to brickwork but at varying random lengths.  Beatrice came up with 4 coursing patterns and chose her favourite – which is being built (She also chose the purple window).  We like the horizontality of this layering and it is reminiscent of paintings by Caspar David Freidrich the German Romantic Landscape painter.

Visiting a Jura quarry just north of Munich for a commercial office project, the ‘travertine’ cut blocks, which cut the stone ‘through the bed’, were an extraordinary visual cross section through the earth itself.

Jura Limestone (meaning from the Jurassic period) contains visual fossilised evidence of the natural world as it was in the Mesozoic age approximately 150 million years ago.  Limestone is a sedimentary rock formed by layers of marine organisms deposited on the sea floor and compressed to create a stone with a variety of surface markings, meaning it is normally bed cut to uncover these natural formations such as Ammonites, Belemnites, Quartz Veins, Sponges, Corals and Feather Stars.  There are 22 layers or ‘beds’.

We’re using this in the wetroom, which is unusual as the stone is porus, however the quarry were able to source a much denser stone for this purpose (apparently a much younger stone which seems counter intuitive).  As a finish it has a 220 hone on the walls, and an 80 hone on the floor to provide a good slip resistance.

Having visited the quarry and being able to see and understand the product and production process, allowed us to order direct, which kept the costs tight (saying that a considerable percentage went to the haulage firm) and afforded us the Jura for the price of a mid-range ceramic tile.  It should be arriving on site in the next week or so.

I have always been interested in left over spaces in buildings: I have seen children delighting in using these spaces. Having a ramp meandering its way around a two story house, there are lots of left over spaces created. Some of these we are only becoming really aware of as the building progresses, despite having designed with models, which should have revealed them all, but the reality of this variety of people sized spaces is constantly surprising us. We designed so that every turn in the ramp would create its own unique pausing space: the reality of this, will only become clear once we use the space

here is the 3D image from the beginning of the week. I will publish another one at the weekend of how it looks now, for a spot the difference. If you can look at this on an iPad /Pod / Phone it feels like you are in the space.

There’s something about windows that have a very finished feel to them. Something to look out of, at the very least.

And a front door!

Thanks to a temporary ramp, Greta can now get into her new room on the first floor!Whilst the build is racing on everyday (regardless of all the rain) I am spending most of my time sourcing and applying to charities for funding to help us build the house. Unfortunately, over a year ago our local council stopped funding extensions to make houses accessible, and are now only able to support a wet room and a ramp up to the front door. Quite how families are expected to carry on using their family homes, when they need to carry their ever heavier children upstairs daily, I’m not sure. As a family with a child with additional support needs, it can get very wearing to constantly focus on the difficulties of life: we like to celebrate and enjoy all the things, large and small, that we find Greta and our whole family able to do. So I don’t want to dwell on the lack of support that the Council is able to provide. But it does mean that I am having to be creative in finding ways of funding this build (any suggestions welcome!). It is a really interesting process, and I am finding out about so many wonderful charities and foundations which have been set up, often due to people’s experiences, who provide so much help support and understanding for so many people. Unfortunately, a lot of charities don’t help with building adaptations: again I’m not sure why not, people’s homes are so important to them, and they need to work well in supporting and enabling them. It may seem as if we are in a very lucky situation of being able to build our own house, which we are, and we really appreciate all the support (and kind wishes) which we get from everyone we encounter; for us this is not only the best possibility, but the only possibility. To find a house in Portobello (where Greta is known and loved) which we could afford, and which we could then adapt to make it barrier-free would be impossible. Building from scratch gives us the chance to provide a house which will carry on supporting us as a family, and helping Greta’s growing independence into the future, but it also gives us the joy of seeing Greta enjoying the spaces of our home inclusively.

Any suggestions of creative fund raising ideas, please comment below.

Saturday was Greta’s eighth birthday (baking) party, and as always we had invited more children than really fit in the house, so we were hoping and praying for sunshine so that we could release them all into the garden. It wasn’t looking good, with a particularly wet week leading up to the party, but then amazingly just as the first guests arrived, the sun came out too, and the garden was filled with excited children dressed as spidermen, devils in red wigs and princesses. Then later in the evening, the calm after the storm, I noticed that our front garden had become greener and darker, as the rain returned and it poured. Immediately I thought of our friends who were brave enough to be doing the moonwalk, and hoped that it would have rained itself out by midnight. I’ve since heard that nothing could have dampened the atmosphere of the ‘walked’ marathon through the night.

The next day we walked down to the site, to find that Bee’s wish had been granted, and there was now a swimming pool where the kitchen had been.

look at this on an iPhone or iPad through the photosynth app to stand right in the middle of our build

People are often amazed that two architects have managed to design a home together, not to mention including their two children in the design process, but I always tell them, it was easy. And it was easy for one reason: we had such a strong brief with a driving reason to build, that every design decision was a delightful realisation of a place that our daughter would be able to use without having to ask for exceptions to be made. So much of her life is frustrated by obstacles in her way; the main ones are physical, environmental, spatial ones, something which as architects we feel ashamed of, but also empowered to do something about. We are in the exceptional position of understanding through our family’s experience what hinders, and knowing, as designers, how to put that right. So when you turn this to the problem of designing a (barrier free) family home it suddenly becomes an enabling process rather than a problem.

Having to think differently around how we use spaces, and how we move around them starts to produce unusual places. I was already interested in how children move around in, and perceive spaces through my PhD research (link), and had often noticed that children will choose to run up a ramp (then often jumping down the stairs if they are on the other side). For our daughter this movement through spaces is just as important, and the way for her to be able to access this experience is by designing a ramp that she can negotiate in her many wheeled vehicles (link bike, 4 wheeler, wheelchair). But once you calculate the ramp needed to climb from a ground floor to a first, it quickly becomes apparent that the ramp will need to do more than just that. So we have designed a ramp which unwraps to connect to a number of different spaces, each of which can be used along the way.

By designing the house as spaces arranged around a ramp, we have enabled Greta to join us in a full experience of the spaces of our everyday lives. Whilst many public and private spaces still act as a barrier to her full inclusion, this house provides an environment which she and her friends and family can experience, learn from and enjoy together. Designing all the spaces to work as part of the movement along the ramp, with the ramp as central to the spaces, allows the architecture to develop in a rich spatial unfolding, whilst also enabling us all to use the house together.

Involving the children in the design allows them to explore creatively what they need and what they desire. It also means that their occupation of the spaces once built will become another part of this process.

Whilst all the excitement of the steel structure was happening, we were also flat out getting our current house ready to sell. This meant many late nights painting and organising, and then finally last weekend we were ready to let people in.

blossom living

Sitting, waiting in our very tidy house was a bit like waiting for a party to start, but without the food and drink. We had no idea if anyone would come, and what they would think. Fortunately the house was soon buzzing, and at one point Bee had to take on the role of tour guide for us: her main aim was to show the viewer all the best climbing places in the house. So now a total of fourteen sets of people have viewed the house, and we have had some really lovely comments, now we just have to wait and see.

snow blossom

This house has been a very lucky house for us, and we would not be moving if we didn’t have to. I still remember the first time we came to see it, where everything was painted dark brown and green, the front garden and back lane were just tarmac, and all the doors opened out onto the crowded landing: and Ian and I stood upstairs and discussed whether we could make it work: I’m so glad we took the risk.

blossom lights

I remember coming here with Bee when it was a building site, with our ridiculously ambitious 5 week schedule, and she was most fascinated by the whole in the bathroom floor which looked down into the living room. I also remember sitting on our red velvet sofa in the kitchen with my feet up, knitting, 8 and a half months pregnant with Greta, whilst Ian unpacked every single box we owned, which filled the whole space of the sitting room.

squirrels

Greta was born in this house, and we were lucky enough to have been able to keep her, and to be able to carry on living here and making more good memories. This is a house that has both wonderful family memories, and also wonderful family rituals of yearly parties, birthdays and anniversary celebrations. We can take those family rituals with us to our next home, and we hope to be able to hand the house on to somebody who will cherish it and enjoy it just as much.

http://m.espc.com/?saleType=Sale&beds=3&locType=text&area=Portobello&radius=0.5&longitude=0&latitude=0&house_type=12&min_price&max_price&search=Search&sort=price-ASC&propref=312736&cs=1&img=0#propDetails

blossom living

blossom family

blossom globe

Blossom Bee

blossom

blossom 360º

squirrel pie

Cottage Pie

Guest Blogger Ian McMillan writes:  Working on projects where the Net/ Gross efficiency of the floorplates and the extent of circulation versus usable space is paramount,  And having a ramp through the house, I was somewhat reluctant to crunch out the figures.  Our current house is very tight with space, but we’ve optimised it to 50% living accommodation, smaller bedrooms and a quirky ‘open plan’ bathroom  – and all in 72m2, which is below the 78m2 standard UK house size for a 3 bed house.  The new proposal, although 140m2, sounds absurdly huge but it’s just the size of a standard Danish family house.  Which is still well below the States and Australia.  So where is all this extra 62m2?

The figures below show that we’ve still kept the bedrooms at a standard size (but have carved the space away above them and introduced rooflights to make them feel brighter and more spacious), and like our current house we’ve tried to optimise the space for the living accommodation.  But rather than one single space, it’s fragmented into different levels which come off the various levels of the ramp.

Squirrel Cottage Areas m2                    UK Cottage Areas m2

Average Pie

The ramp itself is the biggest space user being 41.3m3 and accounting for 31% of the building, as opposed to the typical house where the stair and any corridors would account for 11%.  This is a big spatial investment, however as the ramp is integrated into the house (as opposed to being a ‘bolt on’), it will spatially become part of the living accommodation.  Saying that, It will be interesting to see how we physically use this sloped surface aside from its primary purpose of circulation!

Rem slope

rem slope 2

just a week ago there was nothing on our site but hidden drains and foundations. Then Johnstone Rigging arrived, with their cherry picker and 35ft crane (see previous post for how they negotiated it into the lane!), and ten ton of steel, and within three days we have the structure of our house .We can now stand in the tea drinking space and look across, through the sun room, to the garden. We can imagine how we will run up and down the ramp, and we can stand at our front door. Obviously this still takes a certain amount of imagination (and still needs months of filling in), but for the first time we can really believe that this will be the house where we will live.

steel frame

for the best effect, use photosynth on your iphone or iPad to view these images three-dimensionally

Our enormous crane left the site this morning: amazing driving with just millimetres to spare in our very tight and bendy lane. They only needed three days to get the whole steel frame erected. Over that time we kept meeting people who could see the crane from their kitchen, sitting room, garden; luckily our house won’t be as prominent on the Portobello skyline (although hopefully just high enough to sneak a sea view).
Steel frame photos to follow tomorrow: we have now been in every room on our ground floor.

this photo was taken from our neighbours’ (konishi gaffney) window, as the crane was being gradually manouvered through the twists and turns of our lane: people have commented that it must have been airlifted in.

People are often amazed that two architects have managed to design a home together, not to mention including their two children in the design process, but I always tell them, it was easy. And it was easy for one reason: we had such a strong brief with a driving reason to build, that every design decision was a delightful realisation of a place that our daughter would be able to use without having to ask for exceptions to be made. So much of her life is frustrated by obstacles in her way; the main ones are physical, environmental, spatial ones, something which as architects we feel ashamed of, but also empowered to do something about. We are in the exceptional position of understanding through our family’s experience what hinders, and knowing, as designers, how to put that right. So when you turn this to the problem of designing a (barrier free) family home it suddenly becomes an enabling process rather than a problem.

Having to think differently around how we use spaces, and how we move around them starts to produce unusual places. I was already interested in how children move around in, and perceive spaces through my PhD research (link), and had often noticed that children will choose to run up a ramp (then often jumping down the stairs if they are on the other side). For our daughter this movement through spaces is just as important, and the way for her to be able to access this experience is by designing a ramp that she can negotiate in her many wheeled vehicles (link bike, 4 wheeler, wheelchair). But once you calculate the ramp needed to climb from a ground floor to a first, it quickly becomes apparent that the ramp will need to do more than just that. So we have designed a ramp which unwraps to connect to a number of different spaces, each of which can be used along the way.

By designing the house as spaces arranged around a ramp, we have enabled Greta to join us in a full experience of the spaces of our everyday lives. Whilst many public and private spaces still act as a barrier to her full inclusion, this house provides an environment which she and her friends and family can experience, learn from and enjoy together. Designing all the spaces to work as part of the movement along the ramp, with the ramp as central to the spaces, allows the architecture to develop in a rich spatial unfolding, whilst also enabling us all to use the house together.

Involving the children in the design allows them to explore creatively what they need and what they desire. It also means that their occupation of the spaces once built will become another part of this process.

This is the board we were asked to submit for the exhibition Input and Ideas at the Lighthouse Glasgow, which is part of the Scottish Government consultation on its Architecture Policy. In the end only the photo of Greta designing and Bee’s fimo models of the family made the cut – brilliant for them (I think it’s their first exhibition) but a real shame that there was no sign of the ramp and the design that inclusion had produced – my whole point when asked what should be included in the policy was architecture for all.

Guest Blogger Ian McMillan writes:  Week 8 was about levels.  Scraping back the (apparently) flat site to incorporate foundations, pads, ground slab and domestic drainage.  Given that the site is only 250m2, the 260 cubic metres/ 130 tonnes that has to be removed off site does seem incredible.

However the levels are the key to the design.

With the house design, rather than 2 levels with a ramp ‘bolted on’, we had looked at various early C20 European architects, particularly Adolph Loos, and how they arranged spaces and events around the circulation to create a journey through the space.  This not only breaks down the (apparent) ramp/ circulation length, but also converts it into a usable space.

We looked at various ramp configurations, but the ‘Z’ formation gave the longest length within the site confines, but also suited the spatial demand and program.  This curiously formed more solid edge of smaller ancillary spaces to the street, and opened up the larger living spaces onto the garden.  We had originally hoped for a 1:10 ramp, but mainly as this was a round number, however in reality this developed into a 1:9 gradient.  We were uncertain of this gradient primarily as we are used to working within the building standards of 1:20, 1;15 and 1:12, and all with their incredibly short flight lengths, however where did these figures come from and why?  From our European travels we have seen countless example of ramps within public buildings which are steeper, and importantly practical and manageable.  Recently in London we were in the Turbine Hall of the Tate, and measured the 80m long single flight ramp at 1:12.  Those non-compliant European architects!  In reality we navigate these gradients in the everyday in Edinburgh, where most of the streets in the Newtown are sloping at between 1:12 and 1:8.

The City of Edinburgh Council were concerned about our proposal, and asked us to demonstrate why we thought the ramp was practical, and how we could future proof the design by the provision of a lift space.  It was eventually accepted albeit reluctantly.

It went as follows:

The report follows on from a meeting with The City of Edinburgh Council on 8 October 2011, where the following two key points were raised:

1 – Is there future and spatial provision for a lift within the house?

2 – Is the ramp an acceptable gradient?

Introduction

We are designing and building a home for our daughter who is a wheelchair user.  The intention has been that it should be fully accessible and barrier free and allow Greta to take part in all of our everyday activities.  The house should also be as adaptable and as future proof as possible.

As we are both architects we wrote the brief of all the spatial and user requirements and designed the house from the inside out.  We also took advice and design development guidance from Tom Lister from People Friendly Design who is an accessibility consultant, and has cerebral palsy himself, and also contributes to policy on accessibility for the Scottish Government.

The site where the house itself is situated is in central Portobello, the community where we live.  It was key that we continued to live in and around the people Greta knows and the school she attends.

In order to achieve the above, the design has incorporated a ramp to connect the levels.  This is important for a few key reasons:

1 – No reliance on mechanical equipment.  Although the ramp does take up space within the house, the non reliance on mechanical equipment is a great benefit, and make the house more ‘normal’.

2 – Cognitive development.  Research shows that movements through spaces allows a greater understanding of them

3 – Connectivity. The ramp has been designed in sections which breaks up its length and connects spaces along its route.  This makes it more integrated and purposeful.

Other key features that the house offers are:

• Accessible car port
• Barrier free threshold
• Accessible kitchen work surfaces
• Direct access to the garden
• Snoozlum space
• Physiotherapy space
• Steel fames to allow for future hoisting if required
• Steel frame and space for future lift if required
• Accessible wet room and WC
• Good visual connections between spaces

Future lift provision.

Although we designed the building to function without the provision of a lift we have considered the possibility of requiring one in the future.  The building has a steel frame which allows it flexibility within its layout and plan.  There are two possible and practical locations for a lift to be incorporated the design.

Option 1

The lift would be located at the bottom of the existing stair as shown.  This would give direct access onto the first floor landing outside the bathroom.  The staircase is easily removed from the surrounding steel frame and would be reconfigured to either come up from the small living space adjacent to the kitchen, otherwise the main ramp itself could be used.  The main ramp could be also easily converted into a stepped ramp if required. Flat timber treads could be added over the ramped surface and these would be 1.2m long and the step rise would be 150mm.  This would be an acceptable and compliant stair within the technical handbook (Scottish building standards)

Option 2 – This would enter the lift from the small living space adjacent to the kitchen as shown, and it would exit on the upper level outside the bedroom but within the circulation area.  Again the main stair could be reconfigured within the space but be a more spiral like design, or the ramp could either be used or adapted.

Proposed ramp design.

The ramp within the house is deemed non-compliant in terms of the Scottish Building Standards.  We were unable to design in a compliant solution due to the building plot  not being large enough.  The proposal does make the ramp length as long as possible and has been designed to break the ramp into small sections.

Although it is technically non compliant we believe it is in the spirit of the design guidance.

Ramps are not normally incorporated within domestic buildings primarily as they take up more space than stairs of a lift, but are often incorporated within public buildings.   Scottish building standards have to therefore write the guidelines specifically for public usage of ramps where they have to be able to cater for all abilities, rather than the specific individual.  They also make no distinction between an internal and external ramp although the external ramps have to deal with rain, wind and snow which will require them to be shallow.

Therefore the guidelines deem any gradient greater than 1:20 to be a ramp.  They suggest that the ramp is broken into sections to assist the ambulant disabled to have flattened  pausing spaces. This is covered under the building standards.

Scottish Buildings standards

Building standards suggest that a ramp up to 1:12 gradient is acceptable in terms of safety for public usage within public buildings. Gradients of more than 1:12 are considered too steep to negotiate safely and are not recommended..

That said this is guidance only and is not legally enforceable.

Technical standards have accepted our proposal of 1:9 gradient as there is an alternative and compliant  means to access the upper floor.

British Standards BS-8300

These are the guidelines from which the building regulations are based and from which the Technical standards reference, hence recommend the same ramp gradients..

Research on the subject does come up with some worldwide alternatives on the issue.

Neuferts New Metric handbook – This is a german publication and is the basic guideline to building design.  They recommend that the steepest ramp gradient should be 1:8, and above that the walking pace of a pedestrian is slowed down.

Independent living

This is a UK website and asks what is the steepest gradient acceptable for a wheelchair ramp.  They recognise that the ideal ramps gradient is 1:12, but this cannot always be accommodated.  They suggest that the steepest practical gradient is 1:6, which is that of portable ramps.

ADA American Disability Association

This again verifies the above.  The standard accessible ramps with the USA is recognised as 1:12 within all the states. This ramp can be an unbroken single flight up to 30 feet/ 9 metres.  They suggest that shorter ramps can be used up to 1/6 gradient with the maximum steepness being 1:4 which is an unoccuoied chair being loaded into an accessible vehicle.

European examples

Looking at built examples within Europe we have used the book ‘housing for all ages’ again a german publication, which has drawings, specifications and photographs of ramps

This has a built domestic examples of 1:6 ramps without landings for wheelchair users.

Ramp Summary

The UK and US authorities will permit a 1:12 recommended gradient, with the US allowing much longer unbroken lengths.  Both the UK and US will accept 1:6 as the maximum gradient.  However Germany and other mainland European countries have many built examples of long unbroken wheelchair ramps within private residences of 1:6.

Conclusion

Our proposal lies within the middle of these ranges at 1:9.  This figure came from the maximum practical length of ramp we could fit within the site.  We then built a full scale model of this to verify our finding and to ensure that we were comfortable with this gradient and that we found it manageable. Europe has give us many built examples of accessible houses with much steeper wheelchair ramps of 1:6, with the UK and the US accepting these as permissible gradients but outwith any guidance and legislation.  Ultimately the decision is up to the individual as it is within a private house and not within a public building.  However if the ramps is above 1:12 the individual must satisfy themselves that they have considered the risks.  We feel we have done this as:

1:9 is just outside the 1:12 recommendation

1:6 is an acceptable gradient for shorter sections within the UK and US

1:6 gradients have been successfully built within accessible houses in Europe.

One of the most important things about designing our accessible family home, was that it should be a place that belongs to the children as much as it does to us; the best way to ensure this is to include them in the design process

Greta's bedroom

space for my toys

Bee making sure her bedroom is her bedroom

Bee's fimo Chambers McMillan family

Bee describing the house

Bee looking in

T looking in

Greta red-lining plans

Week 5 still just drains: look at this photosynth on your iPhone / iPad for 3D

Photosynth Week 5

drainage collage

the last few days have been taken up with looking for existing drains, which seem never to be where they are meant to be on paper: this included digging up the neighbour’s garden (with permission, obviously) and of course the usual divining rod, as well as a technological version (which didn’t seem nearly as effect as the old hazel twig, or could have been willow or peach. In the end the thing that worked was just digging up lots of earth until we found them, and of course now that we are actually building on the site, this is something that we can do, and is in fact what we will be doing for the next few months! So now I am looking down at our newly installed drainage, thinking that this is the system that will take away all of our family’s ablutions for years to come (not to mention that it looks capable of serving the whole of Portobello!)

steel frame

Guest Blogger Ian McMillan: The first issue of the steel contractor’s drawings have come in for checking after only 22 Formal TQ’s and 14 phone call queries (whilst on holiday in Cheltenham).  There are one or two minor issues we’ve picked up from the drawings – as usual it’s cross bracing (engineers like a lot of this and architects never want any) and connection details.
We had looked at a timber frame, with steel sections – which became a hybrid solution which started to become overcomplex, so we investigated an engineered timber solution which couldn’t be guaranteed to achieve what we needed, so we had to bite the bullet and go for a full steel frame.  It’s not so uncommon on mainland Europe where steel and in particular concrete framed solutions are the norm – but then again they do expect their housing to last more than 25 years.
There are 8 tons of steel being used, which is much more than you would normally expect for a new build this size.  The primary reason is that the ramp cuts through most of the structural lines, and the extend of glazing and large open plan spaces which we needed to do in order to maximise the daylight and spatial flow and connectivity within such a small plot size.  Then when you have a steel frame you might as well use it to its full potential – and introduce cantilevers.

One of the most important things about designing our accessible family home, was that it should be a place that belongs to the children as much as it does to us; the best way to ensure this is to include them in the design process

Greta’s bedroom

space for my toys

Bee making sure her bedroom is her bedroom

Bee’s fimo Chambers McMillan family

Bee describing the house

Bee looking in

T looking in

Greta red-lining plans

Today,

a JCB came big

and blundering into our home

and tore the

roof like paper

[wpvideo bu2cIAT2]

McMillan demolition

The moment of truth is approaching: tomorrow we will knock down the large concrete shed on our site and find out the real size of our site. People keep telling us that it will seem massive once it is just flattened ground, but of course we keep remembering that we will then be building a house on it, so it won’t stay that way.

Bee steam roller

McMillan steam roller

Arthur's shed

Helping Arthur clear out his shed on Saturday felt like an important moment for us all: lots of memories for him, and being on the verge of something new for us. When the building was finally empty, it had a certain poignance, marks and traces of the things that had happened there were all that was left. And a summerhouse full of salvaged pieces: the ATHarris sign will take pride of place at the top of the ramp: a space that we can only imagine just now.

summerhouse

empty shed

empty shed

Traces

Bee

Why would you choose to build your own house? As architects there is always a desire to create the spaces that you dream of, but this isn’t necessarily enough to give the impetus to actually start such a demanding project.

Greta

But what if most places you went to worked against you moving easily around it, every entrance was an obstacle to getting into the building, and every space had been designed with a mobile, upright person in mind?

Castelvecchio Verona - Bee

For our seven year old daughter, Greta, this is a daily occurrence: she cannot yet walk on her own, so she has a collection of wheeled buggies and a bicycle. As architects, we spend a lot of time visiting buildings, and as a child in a family of architects she and her sister have learnt to love exploring different spaces and places with us. And there are many that she loves being in. But many of them seem to have been designed specifically to hinder anyone who is not conventionally mobile. There are so many missed opportunities in our architectural spaces and places.

Gormley City Greta

Gormley City Bee

So when we realised that Greta would need to live in a very supportive environment, we knew that was something that we could offer her. And it has been very exciting realising that an inclusive, barrier-free house is not just about being able to get from one floor to the other, or from the kitchen to the bedroom; when you consider movement around a house in a whole new way, it also offers a richness of experience of spaces that is beneficial to everyone.

Rem slope Bee

The diggers are here and there’s a great big hole in front of our site. It may not be work on our ground, but its the first sign of ground being shifted and clearly something is going to happen here. And once the power and water are in the ground, we will be able to demolish the building which currently takes up 1/3rd of the site. Then we will have a blank canvas, or as blank as earth, sand and concrete, can be.

services inspection by the two site managers

Yesterday a two year old friend who I had recently given a toy digger to, watched mesmerised as I showed him the film of the real diggers on my iphone: hopefully he will come and visit the site soon and see the real thing. Bee and Greta visited the site, and Bee’s immediate reaction was to jump into the trench: I’m not sure what Itec’s health and safety officer would say about that, they seem slightly bemused by the sporadic waves of family and friends visiting. But I liked Bee’s instinctive reaction to be a part of the project.

first hole in the ground

Itec are the company charged with taking out the earth, putting in pipes and ducts, then putting all the earth back in, and they are great; they know exactly what they are doing, and don’t mind taking the time to explain it all to me. For example the difference between 63mm water pipe, and 63mm MDPE barrier pipe (its the red stripe along the blue pipe). My learning curve as an architect is going to be a steep one this next year.

Bellfield Lane

Bellfield Wood

The problem with a blog is knowing when to start. Sometimes projects just seem to appear, and before you know it you are right in the middle of them and all their complexities. Then you wait for something momentous to happen, big enough to make a first entry in a blog, to capture all your friends and family’s attention, but the moment never quite seems big enough.

Finding our idiosyncratically shaped piece of land certainly would have been, but that happened way back in January 2010, and at the time we were so nervous that it somehow wasn’t going to work out; we couldn’t believe our luck, finding somewhere to build right in the centre of the community that our girls had been growing up in for the last 6 years, and even better finding someone willing to sell us that piece of land (link to story of how we found Arthur / Bellfield)

Or finally securing a mortgage which would make this project work financially, after hours spent on the phone, telling our life story, explaining that we were not just idealistic dreamers wanting our own house, or hard nosed developers, but were doing this to give our daughter a supportive environment that she could use and would help her grow and learn.

Then there was the party when we finally bought the land and all our friends and their children came and helped us drink champagne and eat sausages and strawberries (link to photos).

But I think tomorrow is finally going to be momentous enough, or urgent enough, for me to start this blog: the diggers are coming to break the ground in the road leading to our house, and to bring us power and water: you don’t get more symbolic than that.