Happy Christmas!

Things we love - www.pinterest.com

Please visit our website:

www.thebuildingworkshop.co.uk

We have recently discovered this website http://pinterest.com/ full of weird and wonderful things.  Lots of people 'pin' things that they like onto the page from any website.  The result is a wacky collage of all sorts of creations, designs, thoughts and pictures.  Happy browsing! 

  

 

  

 

The pictures that we have put on this blog have been pinned from:  

www.rainlevel.com  

www.flickr.com 

www.tumblr.com

www.one-happy-mama.com

www.designspongeonline.com

Architect's Kitchen - Sticky Gingerbread

Please visit our website:

www.thebuildingworkshop.co.uk

This Sticky Gingerbread is a really good recipe for Christmas time.  It's quick and easy to make, keeps well in a tin and is great with a cup of tea.   

The ANTA House

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www.thebuildingworkshop.co.uk 

 

When we went to the Scottish Housing Fair up in Inverness, we really liked this little house that ANTA - a Scottish interior design and architecture company - had built to house their shop for the duration of the fair.  It was very simple with a kitchen, sitting room, bathroom and a little bedroom upstairs.  It would make a perfect little holiday house.  We really liked the covered outside area which you can see in the first photograph.  Although the weather in Scotland is not always the best, it was lovely and sunny the day we were there and it was a great place to relax.  You could even have barbecues in the rain!  We loved their models too. 

 

  

   

 

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

Things we love

Please visit our website:
www.thebuildingworkshop.co.uk


On our website, we have a bit all about 'things we love'.  At the moment we have pictures of an old Fergie tractor which belongs to Ben's Grandpa, a grape harvester that we saw in Burgundy in France, the Royal Crescent in Bath which was designed by John Wood, a colourful vegetable stall in Fray Bentos in Uruguay, an aerial photograph taken by FlyingSscotscam, a cool shed in France and some cows.

 

 

Our process: sketches

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www.thebuildingworkshop.co.uk

For every project, we need lots of inspiration - from materials to colours, details, shapes and spaces.  Our rural projects are usually inspired by their surroundings, often agricultural buildings and materials.  We then draw sketches to develop our ideas.  These are some sketches for one of our projects which is inspired by agricultural buildings, including bale sheds.  A sketch is a good way of getting lots of ideas onto paper quickly.  These sketches are often done on detail paper - which is just like tracing paper.  This means that you can layer lots of sketches one on top of each other.     

 

Christmas cards

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www.thebuildingworkshop.co.uk

Our Christmas cards are all written and ready to go.  Thankfully we'll be able to deliver many of them by hand, as the posties have already got their bags full!

 

 

Architect's Kitchen - Scones

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www.thebuildingworkshop.co.uk

This is the recipe we always use to make scones.  It's out of an old edition of the Scottish Women's Rural Institute, so it has to be a good one!  Scones are really quick and easy to make - even more so if you have a food processor - and can be quickly prepared for unexpected visitors. 

 

Our process: models

Please visit our website:

www.thebuildingworkshop.co.uk

We make models for each and every one of Building Workshop's projects.  It takes a bit of time, but it is good thinking time, and if something can't be modelled, then it can't be built!  Everyone can understand a model - joiners, plumbers, glass suppliers, builders' merchants, and most importantly, our clients. 

We now have computer software that allows us to go on virtual tours through the proposed buildings, complete with fitted kitchens, pillows on the beds, even cups of tea sitting on the work surface, like on Channel 4's popular Grand Designs series.  The computer software is great, but there's nothing better than a real model that everyone can sit and discuss with a cup of tea and a slice of cake.

Here are some pictures of models that we have made recently.  Some are development models or massing models and others are final designs that have been granted planning permission.