Posts Tagged: hta design

Sketchbook No 59

November/ December 2019

November is charity art auction time with Article 25. I sold one in the auction and bought one too.

Flying to London for the auction.
The painting I sold. It’s of a building on Blackwall Basin that we are designing for The Canary Wharf Group.
The auction.
Sticking with the art, we ran a life drawing class in the London office.
We us the board room for the life drawing. It’s normally in use for meetings, and, if you’re careful, you can spend some time drawing fellow partners.
Some design team members, elsewhere.
Innes getting ready for training at Spartans, one of a number of excellent local community football set ups.
His sister at home.
I drew the people either side, Isla filled in the middle.
Commuters
Mostly the commuters are in London.
All the people on the train….
I think I’ve drawn some of them before.
A trip to Dublin
Edinburgh travelers on their way to the London Christmas Party.
The London Christmas Party
The fire station being refurbished on Macdonald Road.
The Clockhouse in the former Greenwich Dockyard. Henry VIII built his ship here but you’d never know.
Twelve Triangles cafe, off Leith Walk.
A tuesday Talk on Gender Equality in Public Space.
Another on Mikhail Riches outstanding Stirling Prize winning homes in Norwich.
Grumpy on Christmas Day.

Sketchbook 58 September ’19

Craig Jones Rowley
Craig Jones Rowley making lunch at HTA Design in Edinburgh. The sketch ended up in a cook book we’ve made that celebrates our culture, our work, and the food we’ve being feeding everyone for 50 years.
This is the London office lunch queue.
Some drawings of the family. This is Michael, or ‘Grumpy’ as the kids know him.
Julie
Isla sitting in a box
In the livingroom
Watching the kids skiing at Hillend.
I cooked 50 burgers for the kids, undercooked a couple for the adults.
I went to Knockhill to watch Michael Crees.
Local man Rory Butcher won.
Nic Hamilton’s Ford Focus being prepared for the final race.
Speaking in Glasgow City Chambers to an interesting audience of German and Scottish construction professionals. I was talking about off site manufacture, and how it’s changing everything.
I learned some basic first aid with the Scouts. One of those things where you wonder why you didn’t learn it years ago.
With HTA Sketchclub in Leith. We sketched a few things: I liked this SuHuHa project and it’s proximity to different neighbours.
Ben handing over his RIBA Presidency to Alan Jones after an excellent two years.
Listening to Phil Jupitus interview David Mach.
Getting the bike out around Perthshire with Balfour Beatty and our hosts Synergy Cycles.
The HTA team round the coffee point. A good spot to catch up on wha’s happening.

May 2019 – Sketchbook 56

In my tent, ready to get up and tackle day three of this camp.

Day three is the last day, and it begins round the flag pole.

I’ve been helping some Cubs and Scouts get their art badge.

It’s a team effort, well organised by Dylan with the support of many D’Mains volunteers.

Travelling.

At Glasgow School of Art, looking at what Hilmi and Mo have been up to.

The project work is great. I like looking closely at the buildings around us too. This is just round the corner from the Edinburgh office.

It’s a warehouse: a well designed bay is repeated and some parts are elaborated, some played down.

Beautiful and unconventional urban design in Edinburgh at Shaw Street.

With some of out HTA Design team winning the “Clients’ Choice” Award at the AJ100 Awards.

Eating with Rettie at the Scottish Homes Awards, and talking about the prospects for Build to Rent in Scotland.

Working on Build to Rent with the Edinburgh Park Design team.

The project is for Parabola. Here it is being reviewed by Architecture & Design Scotland.

Travelling

Travelling, and dinner with the helpful Specifi team in Edinburgh.

Travelling.

An LSE talk on peoples’ attitudes to living at high density.

At home: Fraser & Innes playing on my phone between football and swimming lessons.

 

 

Sketch Book 55 – April 2019

The theme is maybe years, or numbers. Seven kids in the rain in a hot tub at Tom Bent’s birthday bash.

At the Macallan distillery. Twelve year old for me.

We cycled round Loch an Eilean with the three kids and stopped to hear the echo from the island castle.

Innes losing his first tooth.

Sketch One from the excellent Highland Folk Museum in Kingussie.

Sketch Two

Isla racing up the Landmark climbing rock.

Peabody talking about numbers, huge financial ones, and how you reconcile them with a social purpose.

Three Crabs in Henry’s Cellar Bar.

Helping at the 30th Craigalmond Scout Coffee Morning.

On the DLR. I think  it’s far harder to sketch on the DLR than it was six months ago. We have thousands of new passengers from Londons new housing developments, and there’s no longer any space.

Two memorials commemorating the 36,000 who died in the First and Second World Wars with no grave but the sea.

Four blocks nicely composed into a West Edinburgh housing development.

Julie sorting our summer holiday.

Three judges and one of our team at the AJ100 Awards judging.

In York Station waiting for the last train home.

At Silverknowes with about eighty Scouts, Cubs and Beavers.

DLR sketch two.

Soderberg in Soho. The first outside Edinburgh I think. Very nice too.

That’s a sketchbook, minus a bunch of drawings of what we might do the house, and I’m not putting them up here.

 

Sketch Book 54 Side One – January & February 2019

Drawing people:

an Aberdeen fan on the DLR.

Work colleagues James Lord,

John Nsiah,& Rory Bergin.

Innes,

Fraser (& the bit of my family tree that plans to cycle up the Hebrides in 2019).Douglas

My Mum.

Innes, Isla & FraserNeil

Murray

Footbaallers

Commuters

On a train

Listening

Gairlochy

Life model PaulAnd in paint. I mean, these parallel lines are all very well but it’s nice to get the brushes out.

Music, Design & Travel – Sketchbook 54

The sketches are (pretty much) all on Instagram now at @sandysdrawingroom so I’m not posting them here so much. I like the immediacy of Instagram: draw them, photograph them post them. Quick. Here are some of the drawings from my 54th concertina sketchbook. Music at a fundraising dinner in the Grange Cricket Club.

Nice dinner, better music.

Members of the Royal High Pipe Band.

Discussing design at a Planning Appeal Hearing.

Discussing design with partners and staff at HTA. We review our projects in every Monday afternoon. Over the course of a few weeks we try to get round them all.The other guy is on a train. I love drawing people on trains now.

The passengers are captivated by their phones and don’t seem to notice. I miss out everything except the person to try and draw them more accurately.

Ali Germain on his way to the HTA Christmas party in London.

Isla

Innes and Fraser

Innes (?)

Some training with the Scouts.

And a great night watching Deacon Blue’s 30th Anniversary Tour, 31 years after I last saw them. Loved it.

 

Performance

glasses on the tube august 18On the tube, I sat opposite this chap with his one legged glasses. He was reading Oliver Twist and making hurried notes. In his black tie and black suit I imagined he was off to a funeral, to give an address.

eugene sept 18

Eugene has told me a story or two. He’s on the streets and he’s had what I think you a call a chequered past.

circolombia august 2018It was a summer of performances and this was the highlight: CirColumbia at the Edinburgh Festival. Great fun to draw.

rambol fireworks august 2018The festival closing fireworks from Ramboll’s fifth floor Princes Street office were spectacular.

hearts august 2018A table topping performance from Hearts.

canela 3 sept 2018Watching food being prepared; a bit of a show.

17 august 18 Scott grantIt’s the end of the summer, so there’s quite a high turnover in the office. The students go back to uni and the next lot arrive.

douglas mcgowan august 2018I took Dougie down to Derby and wore him out.

London to Cannes in 6 Days – March 2018

I rode to Cannes in aid of children’s charity Coram. Our team of 4 raised £20,000 through very generous donations from friends and colleagues. Many thanks to everyone who donated. It’s a good cause: you can still donate here.

MIPIM the bike 180307I rode the whole 900 miles, as I expected to do. I also expected to sketch the whole journey but I didn’t really get close. This is my bike in the hotel the night before.

MIPIM ride briefing - 180308This is the rider briefing on the morning we left. After that I hardly managed anything. Everything moves too fast and actually requires a fair bit of concentration; there’s no time left to think about sketching.

MIPIM - the busSome people eating snacks on the bus inside the train that transfers you through the tunnel. Cycle to MIPIM is a bit like I imagine the army might be: you have a job to do and people shout at you when you don’t do it, and even when you do (though there was less of that this year).

MIPIM RidersI drew some riders.

Christian Spencer Davies

And some ride captains.

alex elyI even managed one lunch stop (but there were six).

Cannes RIBA beach

After six days and nine hundred miles I arrived in Cannes for a good round of interesting lunches and meetings, and some parties. I enjoyed the chat and learned a fair bit, but at the back of my mind was the feeling that I need to go back, concentrate harder, cycle less, and draw the whole route.

Maybe next year.

That’s Entertainment – December 2017

Fiona and Paulina sleeping on the way to the HTA Design London party

hta sleepers - december 2017

Recovering the next day on the long trip home.

party morning after december 2017

Earlier in the month I’d gone to Islay with the guys I began studying architecture with 30 years ago who are still architects.

Port Charlotte 2-RecoveredWe got thrown out of the pub and the police were called.

Port Charlotte 1

This sort of thing didn’t happen 30 years ago. That’s middle age for you.

Flying to ISlaBy the time we flew home we knew just about everyone.

london office brick - december 2017

Recovering in London, trying to understand the detail of our new office. You don’t learn that much in 30 years.

fraser ar scots night - 30 nov 2017

It’s the time of year for shows: Fraser in his school Scots Night.

Queensferry Panto - December 2017

Brother in law and nephew excelling in panto.

171213-WSP-Spifox

A Christmas lunch or two, though this is the only one that made me cry. It raised money for charities So Precious and CHAS. Click on the links for more information on these excellent organisations.

Michael 3 december 2017It’s time for some time at home…

julie and matt december 2017

…chatting to friends…

isla 1 december 2017

…recovering…

42 eba stair december 2017…and thinking about some new design challenges.

November 2017

Public Service Broadcasting at the Barrowlands.

PSb @ barrowlandsSome life drawing with HTA

KM_C458-20171114094908life drawingListening to comments from a design review on some of our work.

KM_C458-20171114094750KM_C458-20171114094812FlyingKM_C458-20171114094511

At the Davidson’s Mains war memorial.

memorial 2017