Tipperlinn Road - A Reflection
Our clients moved into to their wonderful new house on the magical date of May the Fourth this month and we sincerely hope that the force will be with them and that they enjoy the house for many years to come.
It was an extremely brave move to make. They sold their own family home and retained a portion of the garden and then engaged the services of Richard Murphy to design their new home, adding a fantastical highlight to their twilight years.
The house is now finished in almost every respect. There was a mini 'opening' when fellow architects from RMA attended as well as Paul Jenkins, our engineer and other interested parties. Inscape, in between cleaning and tidying, were able to demonstrate many of the features of the house to a very appreciative audience.
We went on site at the end of 2016 with Daryl Robbins from Richard's office as the appointed site architect. He had done the vast bulk of the drawing and research work and much of the liaison with the clients. However, Daryl had plans to travel about the world with his partner Fiona and so they both set off on their adventures just months before the end of the project.
Mark Donaghy was then nominated from the RMA offices to replace him and he picked up the reins left behind by Daryl almost seamlessly. It was a delight working with both of them and a true team effort from all parties involved, from all the many and highly skilled sub contractors, Mike Andrews our Quantity Surveyor to the engineering team led by Paul Jenkins but most especially it has been a privilege and an honour getting to know clients Mike and Florence Shaw.
We have been able to follow Daryl's adventures while he has been travelling and he has been able to follow the completion of the build. While on the opposite side of the world Daryl very kindly wrote the following reflection of the project and it is our pleasure to be able to make it the subject of possibly our final blog post on the house's construction. We jumped from completion of the roof to completion of the project so maybe when time allows it might be interesting to add in some of the missing pieces as we pushed for completion.
16 Tipperlinn Road - The Hidden House.
As the hidden house at Tipperlinn Road nears its completion I thought it would be a nice idea to reflect on the design of the home. The house is a Great example of how it is possible to build a detached Modern dwelling within a conservation area in the city centre of Edinburgh. One of the key aspects of the design is its response to its Scottish climate and cultural influences that root the building to its context.
The use of timber shutters on windows and sarking boards in the roof construction, are examples of how Scottish architecture once responded to the unforgiving winds and heat loss through single glazed windows.
These features are typically found in homes all over Scotland. At 16 Tipperlinn Road we felt there was an opportunity to present a modern version of this idea by recreating insulated timber shutters on a grand scale. These allow the house to open up in the summer months and become a closed box retaining heat in the winter.
It is common to find large glass panels in all new build dwellings, advancements in glass technology mean they no longer are perceived as sources of heat loss in the home. At Tipperlinn 4 large floor- ceiling glass doors externally stack to create an open corner to house. With the main living areas and bedrooms organised around the private courtyard this becomes the focal point of the entire home. A south facing rooflight will flood the main living areas with direct sunlight and provides additional ventilation when cooking in the kitchen.
An air source heat pump linked to the underfloor heating provides the house with some ecological advantages, for me the play with natural light is the real success story regarding the green credentials of the house.
The house has benefited enormously by the enthusiasm and ambition of its clients. I hope the Shaws love the house and enjoy every little detail the design team worked closely with them on throughout the project to achieve.
While at Richard Murphy Architects I was project architect for the first year of the build and sadly missed the last few months of its construction through to it's completion. The pictures of the job I have seen so far suggest Mark at RMA has done a great job completing the project. The house will hopefully be a great addition to the portfolio of amazing projects by Richard Murphy Architects.
I am currently on a world architecture traveling adventure, seeing some of the worlds greatest and simplest architecture in various continents around the world. I eagerly await some completed photographs of Tipperlinn Road I have enormously enjoyed seeing updates while on my travels.
Inscape have once again worked tirelessly to bring one of Richard Murphy's houses to life. Throughout the build no ideas were ever off the table and this is a triumph of both the client and the contractor. It takes a great design team to create a great building and if the house turns out half as good as the team behind it, I am sure it will be a great success. I wish the Shaws the very best moving into their dream house, It has a been a pleasure to be involved with the project.
Best regards
Daryl Robbins, Architect
Thank you Daryl and in conclusion can we add that the final weeks of the project were quite intensive, so intensive in fact that we never really got a chance to take finished photos before the furniture and belongings arrived. There will be professional photos in the fullness of time, I'm sure but in the meantime these are the best images we were able to take before the handover.
