We design architecture for all: inclusive, barrier free and participatory


Small accessible home
You can contact us at:

Chambers Mcmillan
9e Bellfiled Lane
Portobello
Edinburgh EH15 2BL

t - 0131 669 5766
m - 07717131287

chambersmcmillan@icloud.com


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Archive for the ‘architecture for all’ Category

Posted on: March 24th, 2020

Small accessible home

these options for a small accessible home on a narrow urban site can be developed for different briefs and sites. the core of the concept is how to live inclusively and accessibly in a small footprint, with enjoyable spaces that connect well, producing a home which has both variety and is a supportive environment

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Highland Bothy

an accessibly highland bothy around an existing stone barn

 

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accessible conversion Kelso

Posted on: March 10th, 2020

This project was to convert a church hall, which had been a much loved nursery, into a compact accessible living space. Using the front of the hall and carving out a courtyard to allow light into the depth of the spaces, arranged around the courtyard, giving each of them a connection to outside private space, as well as longer views out of the front. Each space has its own character, further enhanced by the colour and choice of materials and objects considerately placed by the client. Spatial and visual connections between each room were of great importance, to make a small place feel spacious.

As an existing church hall, the building already had a presence on the wide street, with its variety of scales of townhouses. With the ramp crossing the whole width of the building, a layering was set up, which we continued with layers of timber on the rendered front wall. The timber connects to the burnt larch timber cladding in the inner courtyard.

The client for the project was very hands on. From the design process through the whole build process, where she managed all the trades, and was involved in parts of the construction, including scorching all the burnt larch for the cladding herself (and really beautifully!)

The project is sustainable, in the decision to re-use an existing building which was no longer suitable for its purpose, in its choice of building materials, and just as importantly, in its inclusive, accessible nature.  With a ramped entrance to get to a level ground floor with a main bedroom, wet room, and living and kitchen space, as well as a small snug / second bedroom. The roof space has been converted into a third bedroom and wet room. The accessible concept makes it a lifetime home for anyone.

 

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accessible Georgian townhouse conversion

Posted on: March 3rd, 2020

In 2015 we completed one of our first projects as chambersmcmillan: a conversion of the ground floor of a Georgian house in Portobello, to make an accessible lifetime home for a couple after their children had left home. The house already had a wonderful space which had been a working man’s snooker hall and an artist studio, so we worked to retain the character of this space whilst providing a new bedroom, wetroom, and living spaces which connect to the kitchen, dining and garden.

If you are living in a space which doesn’t work for your needs or current uses, please get in touch to discuss how our design could change this.

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Scottish Design Awards: Future Building Shortlisted

Posted on: August 14th, 2019

In a week’s time we will be celebrating the very best in Scottish Design (from  Digital Design to Corporate Design, Craft to Architecture), at the Scottish Design Awards 2019.  We are delighted that our future project, with JM Architects, for the Yard Dundee, has been shortlisted. The Yard are an amazing client, who provide a brilliant environment for children with disabilities offering the chance for creative adventurous indoor and outdoor play in a well-supported environment. The Yard strongly believes disabled children should be offered the same opportunities as their peers to get involved in risky play to help them develop, learn and build friendships and find their own limits. The future building in Dundee will support this process, and has been designed as an enabling environment, where each child or young person finds the spaces they need.

https://2019.scottishdesignawards.com/architecture-future-building/the-yard-dundee/

 

 


Finalists Future Building Scottish Design Awards 2019

Posted on: June 10th, 2019

We are delighted that our concept design for The Yard Dundee has been shortlisted for future building, in the Scottish Design awards 2019. It is an exciting project for us, with fabulous clients, and lots of creative engagement and workshops with users, feeding into the design process.

3D render images by Nick Dalgety.


Garden Room Living

Posted on: March 30th, 2019

Re-thinking a two storey house, that was no longer working for the family, we developed the design in collaboration with the clients to create an open plan but articulated living garden room, with kitchen, sitting, dining, activity wall, window seat to the herb courtyard, and much better connection to the existing garden. This frees up the existing sitting room, either for teenagers to use, or in the future could be an accessible ground floor bedroom, making this a lifetime home. Like many houses the connections between inside and outside, and the connections between spaces for different uses needed to be re-designed, to create a flexible inclusive accessible family home

 

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Disabled Scouts Lodge

Posted on: March 29th, 2019

This project is to extend and convert an existing lodge, so that the Glasgow Disabled Scouts can use it more inclusively and accessibly. the idea is that outside and inside spaces will work well together,  enabling more of the Scouts outdoor activities and adventures to happen. The design process has been inclusive, with co-design creative workshops informing the building.

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Two Family Accessible Lifetime Home

Posted on: March 19th, 2019

This new build house, was designed to support two families, including one wheelchair user. It was important for the two families to feel well connected, whilst also having their own private space. We worked closely with the planning department to ensure that the understanding of the extra needs of the families were supported allowing a design that both works with the surrounding landscape whilst also providing a suitable lifetime home

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Costa Rican Garden Shed makes the Guardian

Posted on: October 30th, 2017

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


Royal Scottish Academy Art and Architecture Open

Posted on: March 27th, 2017

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 exhibitionIMG_5595


Creative workshops with children

Posted on: September 20th, 2016

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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The Ramp House accessible home

Posted on: May 31st, 2016

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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The Rings accessible holiday cottages

Posted on: May 27th, 2016

the Rings wheelchair accessible holiday cottages

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Leith Double Upper Re-Modelling in Build It

Posted on: May 20th, 2016

Lovely to see one of our early projects for good friends in Build It; a great family home and party house! Macleod_May_BuildItMacleod_May_BuildIt 2Macleod_May_BuildIt 3Macleod_May_BuildIt 4


Spring Newsletter

Posted on: April 28th, 2016

Spring Newsletter – sign up for future newsletters2016Q1T version 3 email.pdf-1 2016Q1T version 3 email.pdf-2


The Rings – Now Open!

Posted on: January 17th, 2016

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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Chambers McMillan Office

Posted on: December 24th, 2015
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The Rings on Site

Posted on: September 11th, 2015

We had an exciting site visit to the Rings in Fife this week. The building is starting to look like a place you could relax in: it will provide much needed accessible holiday cottages (from between 2 and 16) and will be open in 2016.IMG_4611 IMG_4610 IMG_4609 IMG_4608 IMG_4607  IMG_4605 IMG_4604 IMG_4603    IMG_4599 IMG_4598    IMG_4593


accessible family home

Posted on: July 17th, 2015

accessible home enableaccessible family home


Doing Disability Differently: Vals Therme

Posted on: June 20th, 2015

Last year Doing Disability Differently by Jos Boys was published. My sensory description of Vals Therme, from Greta’s point of view, was included, as well as a critique of our Ramp House. I am now working with Katie Lloyd Thomas on Jos Boy’s follow up reader: our chapter The Ramp House: Building Inclusivity, will explore the planning, building and inhabitation of the ramp house as an ongoing process of inclusivity.

http://www.ribaj.com/intelligence/doing-disability-differently

http://www.architectural-review.com/doing-disability-differently/8668802.article

Thea MacMillan – Experiencing Zumthor

 The way that Zumthor’s spaces are perceived: in Vals Therme, each space has been considered sensorially; the searing heat of the 40° bath reflected by burning red terracotta walls, which change from highly glazed to porous rough at the line where the water laps, contrasted by the cool turquoise water of the central pool and the sharp air rolling down from the surrounding mountains to lie on top of the outdoor pool. Guided by the continuity of the touch of the changing stone in each changing space; offering different sensory experiences, using contrast and heightened touch, hearing, and smell.

Perception: coming into the space from above, the sound is first, then the weight of the leather curtain pushed aside, followed by smell. For anyone disabled who has learnt to use their senses differently to complete pictures, this place offers many different clues. The spatial configuration of open plan and smaller contained spaces and the connections between them, gives a complex aural feedback for the visually impaired to construct the space in their minds.

Movement through the spaces, whilst not supportive of all wheelchair users, with its slow long flat steps, provides added layers of sensory experience for those who can climb them. As this almost offers the inclusive experience of moving through changing space, it seems a missed opportunity not to have a ramp.

Thea McMillan 11/09/13

 

“Ultimately, of course, the aim is redefine what constitutes the normal [] ‘

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 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.’

“here, movement through the space is not separated out as ‘accessible circulation’ but formally interwoven with both how family life is lived, and with the multiple registers through which we engage with the material world simultaneously. Greta is neither a special case nor an unconsidered ‘anyone’: she is just one of the members of the family; as she says herself, ‘I am just a very busy eight year old and like everyone else, I just need a place which allows me to get on with things'” Jos Boys, Doing Disability Differently, Routledge.


new family room in the garden, submitted to planning

Posted on: June 19th, 2015

INITIAL CONCEPT R and D INITIAL CONCEPT R and D 2


Scotland’s first Corian clad building

Posted on: May 8th, 2015

We have nearly finished Scotland’s first external clad corian building: a play and painting room.DSC_0459


Biggar Artists Studio progressing well

Posted on: May 1st, 2015

We had a great visit to site this week: the studio will give artists Ken and Moira Russell better, light spaces to work in. http://www.inadifferentlight.co.uk/DSC_0406 IMG_1710 IMG_1715 IMG_1727 IMG_1725 IMG_1720 IMG_1717


Biggar Artist Studio starts on site

Posted on: April 24th, 2015

v) the frame goes UP 5PERSP This week our artist studio extension started on site. Looking forward to watching this being built: it will provide a spacious light studio for the two artists, and connect the house to the garden.


Infill London house in for planning advice

Posted on: March 13th, 2015

This week we submitted a design statement for an infill London House for pre-planning advice. The House would be on the ground floor, around three courtyards, wheelchair accessible, with a carers room upstairs. As part of the surrounding context, it would have red brick boundary walls, and the house will be black timber cladding, living roofs and glass.SKETCH SKETCH


SG Minister Breaking Ground

Posted on: August 21st, 2014

IMG_0861Last 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.

A1 IMAGE RINGS 2in this rural setting the landscape becomes the inspiration for the forms of the building.CMcM = client at rings cairnChambers McMillan and our client Moira Henderson


An inclusive room for Ali

Posted on: May 17th, 2014
EPSON MFP image

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Inspirational Design: Scottish Government

Posted on: December 19th, 2013


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

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

 


one shiny saltire plaque on the wall of the ramp house

Posted on: September 10th, 2013
saltire plaque

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.”

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a magazine you can’t get in the newsagents

Posted on: August 23rd, 2013

lifestyle ability cover small
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 


Scottish Architecture Policy

Posted on: June 28th, 2013

 

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.

 


Wood Awards 2013

Posted on: May 14th, 2013

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.

Wood Awards Mailshot


EAA Awards 2013 – Winner!

Posted on: April 25th, 2013

On Monday night, whilst Greta was tucked up in bed, Bee, Ian and I went along to the Edinburgh Architectural Association awards ceremony, more nervous than if it had been the Oscars (though less dressy, apart from Bee). The EAA awards  are a really important event, as they are local judges, with an understanding of local issues, but also a wider architectural experience too. Their visit was delightful (even though they had to tiptoe round Bee who was in bed with a fever) as there seemed to be a real sense of amazement on their faces as the house unravelled, to be something very different from its initial appearance. I also think with our house there is a certain disbelief that anyone would really base their home around a 28m long ramp, but needs must, and hopefully they were convinced that however ‘idiosyncratic’ the house was, it works. So we were left with a feeling that they had really understood and appreciated the house, and were absolutely delighted to be shortlisted. But that didn’t matter as Iain Stweart stood on the platform with his (metaphorical) gold envelope. It was encouraging that as our image of the back of the house (link) went up on the screen,  there was an audible gasp, and then several moments of deafness as we couldn’t quite believe that they had read out our names. Bee was the first to jump up and exclaim with delight and then we all piled onto the stage, a quick mention of where the fourth client was (well past her bedtime), no time to think about thanking the many people who have helped us along the way, and definitely no tears – we had been warned by the President!

There was a real sense that the awards are just as much about good clients as good architects, Bee felt well and truly congratulated, the judges said some lovely things about the house, and then it was back to the reality of finishing floors, un-jamming stuck windows, and painting huge areas of walls. It is however a wonderful feeling to be an award winning practice living in an award winning house. And on our way into school with Greta this morning, atleast three people greeted us as such, the delights of living in the friendly, warm community that is Portobello.

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children participating in design

Posted on: May 31st, 2012

children’s fieldwork


Architecture for All

Posted on: May 28th, 2012

ImageArchitecture for All is not just about physical access, but more crucially about inclusion in the whole design.

ImageDesigning spaces which are barrier-free and accessible to everyone, through engaging people in the design process. This should be prioritised because it improves everyone’s experience of the built environment; when people feel included both in the process and in the built result, their involvement ensures meaningful and joyful use.Image

ImageChildren’s different ways of moving through and using spaces shows us that buildings can be thought of differently, and barrier-free design (rather than being seen as an add on) can be at the core of our architecture. This will change the rhythm of use, and the spaces occupied. ImageImagine that most places you went to worked against you moving easily around them, and that every space had been designed with a mobile upright person in mind?

Squirrel Cottage has been designed by a whole family to offer a little girl a supportive environment, not only for her, but for her family and friends too. Realising that an inclusive, barrier-free house is not just about being able to get from one floor to the other, and considering movement around a house in a whole new way offers a richness of experience of spaces that is beneficial to everyone.

Inclusive             Supportive                  Space

Children and their Use of Space

Children’s Participation

Community Involvement