45 Main Street is a listed Georgian house in the heart of Gorebridge’s old town. It falls within a conservation area that is part of the Conservation Area Regeneration Scheme (CARS) funded by Historic Scotland and Midlothian Council to help in the restoration of buildings. No. 45 used to be the town’s dairy. Halvorsen Architects acted as architect for the […]
Marijuana may be great for getting high, but the architectural value of cannabis is in the industrial hemp that forms a vital ingredient of products including hempcrete. Hempcrete is low-tech natural building material made from the chopped stalk of the hemp plant and a lime-based binder. It is carbon-negative in that it absorbs carbon dioxide
client private engineer CRA Ltd. contract value £70,000 area 55 sq. m. The client lives in a listed 1950s, Morris and Steadman house – the ‘Upside Down House’, and needed more room for an expanding family. After looking at various ways of extending the existing house in a bold manner, sympathetic to the original design,
Poet Melissa Bailey asked me to collaborate with her on the design an installation that represents DNA and it’s unchecked mutations that can lead to cancer. She wanted a sculpture related to her poetry and also a place where one could listen to the poetry. We asked genetic scientist Fiona Moorman to join our team to advise how best and
As part of the wood workshops I run with Stephanie Walker, Wooploft was one of the most ambitious. Pupils from Tynewater Primary School’s P7 class designed and built the structure in one year year under the auspices of International Year of the Forest, and with a grant from the Forestry Commission. The aims of
I have done several projects with children and schools with Gorebridge Community Development Trust. One of these projects – Wooploft – caught the eye of a new client, Genesis (J&T) Ltd. I am designing two additions to their Dalkeith Happy Days nursery – a dining room and a pre-school room. Happy Days is an Eco-School. All
client private engineer CRA Ltd. contract value £300,000 area 140 sq. m. The client wants a family house for a stockman in an area of outstanding beauty overlooking Crichton Castle. There are several contradictory requirements that need to be satisfied in the design of the house. The house needs to be physically near the cattle
House in area of outstanding natural beauty, Midlothian Read More »
This is an extension to a Georgian sandstone house in Midlothian, using a timber frame, timber cladding and large areas of glass. The cladding is Siberian Larch – a popular cladding material with architects because of its durability, cost and more consistent texture than its Scottish counterpart. The timber is untreated and will turn silver-grey
This project was for a client for an extension to and remodelling of house, Bristol that I had worked for in London. He had a similar situation in Bristol – a Victorian house that was too dark and pokey for his liking and an unused attic. In this case planning permission was not required as
Planning permission has been approved a four-bedroomed house in rural Midlothian on the footprint of a redundant pole barn. The plan, height and roof profile were all dictated by the shape of the barn – a stipulation by the planners. It will be clad in untreated larch which will turn silver-grey over time. This will
The clients wanted a new play room and bedroom extension for their listed Georgian terraced house in Marylebone, central London. The challenge for Halvorsen Architects was to provide reasonable accommodation on a very narrow site with onerous planning constraints. The scheme was for a two-storey rear extension divided into three bays. Each bay has a
Plaswyck Park is a popular park and zoo in a suburb of Rotterdam. The clients wanted to move the main public entrance to the opposite side of the park and to have new offices, a restaurant and a shop near the new entrance. They also asked us to look at new proposals for accessing the
In 2009 Midlothian Counil asked Gorebridge Community Development Trust to . . . . . . text to follow.
Green Roof Bicycle Shed client private contract value £20,000 area 6 sq. m. Logistical problems of storing bicycles and recycling bins at the bottom of a steep stepped path up to the client’s house led the client to Halvorsen Architects. The house (Morris and Steadman’s Upside Down House) and garden are both Grade B Listed.
The clients wanted to make their modern 1970s house and outbuildings less fragmented and open up the interior to the garden. The scheme unifies the various elements with a series of canopies and hard landscaping providing a new terrace, car port and covered walkway. The canopies are composed of bold, laminated beams that seem to
Westminster Underground project and site architect in collaboration with Ove Arup & Partners client London Underground Ltd engineer G.Maunells and Partners landscape architects Wong Tung and Partners contract value £32 million area 6,000 sq m The client asked Michael Hopkins & Partners to design a new Underground station at Westminister for the Jubilee Line Extension.
Halvorsen Architects were asked to replace an existing lean-to extension and remodel the interior of part of a Georgian house in Lasswade, Midlothian. All the internal walls in the area concerned were removed and a new purpose-made stair installed. The floor to ceiling glazing and open-plan hall/stairwell allow maximum light inside where there had been
client private contract value £20,000 area 8 sq. m. Shepherd House sits in a spectacular Grade B Listed walled garden that is open to the public. All elements of the garden, both architectural and horticultural are beautifully designed with loving care by the owners to form a perfect harmony. The owners wanted to replace their
The clients wanted a large rural barn/shed in which to store agricultural, gardening and leisure equipment. The building is clad in timber and carefully detailed, which means it is a much more attractive building than the standard metal sheds favoured in the locality. It is also a surprisingly economical solution. The barn/shed uses an existing
Wesley Crescent, Bonnyrigg, Midlothian client private engineer CRA Ltd. contract value £90,000 area 43 sq. m. The clients for this residential extension had recently returned from living in France and Switzerland and wanted to introduce the same quality of light and open-plan living in a modern style that they had enjoyed there. The rear of
client Gorebridge Community Development Trust architect Lee Boyd engineer David Narro Associates mechanical and electrical engineer Irons Foulner Partnership landscape architects Rankin Fraser contract value £2.7 million I joined the board of Gorebridge Community Development Trust in October 2007 in order to help the trust in the design and procurement of a new community centre
Greenhill Place, Edinburgh client private engineer CRA Ltd. contract value £90,000 area 58 sq. m. The brief was to replace and enlarge an existing poorly built 1970’s extension to a Listed Georgian terraced house on the edge of the Grange. The challenge was getting light into the North facing extension and designing a connecting glazed
The New House, 1992-94, Amersham, Buckinghamshire client private engineer Whitby and Bird Engineers contract value £375,000 area 380 sq m The client asked for a modern house that would benefit from its position in the Chiltern Hills. The relationship between inside and outside was of primary importance in the design. One enters the house through
client private engineers One Arp & Partners. contract value £45,000 area 60 sq. m. Halvorsen Architects was asked to convert the attic and remodel the rest of this end of terrace Victorian town house to create more light and space. This was achieved by stripping out the labyrinth of dark hallways, corridors and cupboards and
Planning permission has been approved for two separate, new, four-bedroomed houses designed by Halvorsen Architects in rural Midlothian. They are both in the beautiful area around Crichton Castle, with one actually overlooking the ruined keep. Midlothian Council was concerned about the impact the houses might have on this area of outstanding natural beauty, so great
