Posts by Andrew Docherty

Finally realising a longstanding ambition to visit this extraordinary social housing project in Ivri sur Seine in the SW suburbs of Paris. Designed by Jean Renaudi & Renee Gailhoustet in 1969 as a reaction to the soulless slab blocks favoured by traditional modernists the stacked triangular forms allow every flat a variety of views, light…

Great to see the final results of a beautiful slow project where the client Rob has taken on much of the building work with a commitment to natural and traditional materials.  The results are stunning.  The former cow shed has been turned into an annex and B&B retaining as many original features as possible.  The…

There is something uniquely fun, challenging and satisfying about designing stairs and in many ways is a good example of what architecture is all about.  You cannot just design any stair you want.  There are all kinds of restrictions in the building regs governing maximum risers and goings, minimum widths, how the banisters are set…

This is the place. It’s the bit of the building where people end up at, where you just seem to find yourself after wandering around a bit. The place where you will lean in the doorway to drink your coffee, or sit under the canopy to watch the rain in the bay. It is the…

Great to see the interiors at Rose Gardens in St Dogmaels coming together.  One of the joys of working on domestic projects is that it really is a truly collaborative process.  After months of me thrashing out important but practical issues such as drainage, services and waterproofing it is great to see the original vision…

Finishing the summer with a tour of current projects in Pembrokeshire which are nearing completion.  It really has been a growing summer and Jane in St Dogmaels has been making good use of the time the builders are finishing the interiors to completely transform the pile of earth from the excavations into an extraordinary, beautiful…

I finally cleared space in my studio for the sofa but looks like I may not be sitting on it much. Nice to have the company though. Thinking of changing my name to Big Dog architects.

Scaffold is down in Manorbier and the rooms are taking shape.  Mid century block colours and window seats to make the most of the fantastic views. Completion in the autumn.

My office cabin from the wild flower meadow my green fingered wife Jessie plated this Spring.  Nice week to be working from home and good to remember that bare and forgotten patches of earth can become beautiful things with care, planning and time.

Lovely bit of stone (or maybe concrete?) detailing on an empty Georgian house in Bradford on Avon.  The cat is looking at the stairs up to the main entrance.  The pose is beautifully observed but it has been simply sculpted, there should be more of this soft of thing in building, maybe I will try…

Room with a view:  After a year of working out of various domestic corners I am finally back in a shed of my own!  So a new spring start for my Cotswold career.  It is a lovely space- wide desk, all my books, some familiar objects, a sunny terrace and a stunning view.  Plenty of…

House renovation & extension in Bristol with some amazing period features- from a range of periods!  New entrance and circulation, huge open plan kitchen and peaceful loft conversion with bedroom, dressing area, bath and yoga friendly living room- all with views out over the park. The client is a camera man and will be documenting…

This new project in Newport Pembrokeshire has been a wonderful opportunity to explore an ongoing preoccupation of mine, trying to unpick, update and re-make a modern Welsh cottage.  There are some rules to follow:  A simple form.  Modest in scale (5-6m wide by 10-11m long).  Construction and material that are hard wearing and sympathetic to…

Going Dutch!- first international commission working on a rather lovely traditional townhouse in the canal district of Amsterdam.  It is a gorgeous period property over 4 long thin floors with crazy Dutch ladders stairs, romantic loft and 2 person coffee roof terrace.  It is bright and open but has lost some of the character internally…

It’s not often you get a site with a standing stone!  This one is nesting in a small wooded grove with amazing views overlooking the harbour at Newpot in Pembrokeshire.  It is clearly a magical site with a curiously collapsing cabin- soon to be a new home and workshop on the wild coast of west…

Small extension.  Simple plan simple shape

Always nice to have the time to do some old fashioned sketching on holiday.  Apart from being extremely relaxing (and a good opportunity to have a quiet beer) it’s also a great way to enjoy, observe and understand how people have organised, designed and used their lovely spaces.  This is the wonderful Bull Inn in…

Timber frame taking shape in Manorbier

While we do take new buildings seriously in this country I often feel the process could be more loved.  A new house is a significant thing. It is not only a new object in the landscape, it is a home and space where the everyday events, tasks and dramas of its inhabitants lives will be…

Some of my favourite reds: Scarlet Pyrrole Red Cadmium Red Alizarin Crimson Red Ochre Vermilion Venetian Red

Some places are all about the view and this bedroom has a great one!  It does help if your site looks out over Manorbier bay but there was still a lot of head scratching needed to get this all lined up!  The bedroom is not the only room in the house and every room is…

New Prefab straw house panels by the excellent Ecococon arriving on site in St Dogmaels today all the way from Lithuania.  The panels are timber frame pre-packed with straw to passive level of insulation and are then finished with lime plaster externally and clay plaster internally.  With a wood fiber insulated roof and foam glass…

Love this wonderful Brutalist nugget stuck onto a building in st Pauls Bristol and intrigued to know what it’s original intent and use was.  I’ve always been fascinated by brutalist architecture.  It’s public perception is, well Brutish and clumsy with bald, exposed materials and unornamented surfaces.  If you look closely however it is as often…

High efficiency building services are getting more and more complicated and as the bits of kit increase to reduce running costs it gets harder and harder to hide them away and to stop them taking over the design.  Full Credit to the wonderful team at Jones & Bradley in Pembrokeshire for organising this load of…