Dualchas Building Design

The RIBA have announced that Raasay Hall  by Dualchas Building Design is one of ten Scottish buildings that have won a 2011 RIBA Award. 

Practice partner, Alasdair Stephen said: " It is fantastic that Raasay Hall has won this award.  It shows that this is an important building, not just for Raasay but for Scotland.

The building is a tribute to strong community that were dedicated to great quality, despite a limited budget.   It is an exemplar of how a good client can achieve great things by having confidence in their own abilities and culture"

Sholto Humphries, president of the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland, said: "Ten awards is a fantastic result and a record for Scotland.

"The RIBA Awards are UK recognition of excellence in architecture and, from this result, it is clear that Scottish architectural talent is competing strongly, both within the UK and more widely.

RIBA president Ruth Reed said: “These well-designed buildings will add huge value to the lives, prosperity, health and pride of their owners, users and communities and I am delighted with this year’s selection. We are promised an interesting RIBA Stirling Prize shortlist.”

The building is a tribute to a strong community that were dedicated to great quality, despite a limited budget.   It is an exemplar of how a client can achieve great things by having confidence in their own abilities and culture"

Raasay Hall has been shortlisted in the Scottish category for the RIBA Awards 2011.  This is the first stage to being considered for the prestigious Sterling Prize which recognises the best architecture in the UK.

Practice partner Alasdair Stephen said, ' We are delighted  by this shortlisting and are keeping our fingers crossed for the announcement on the 17th of May.  We are proud that this building has become a social and cultural hub to Raasay and is a real asset to the community.  We think it is an outstanding example of what can achieved when high value is placed on good architectire by the client.'

For more information see the Press and Journal.

An award winning house by Dualchas Building Design has been featured in this week's Architect's Journal - the leading publication for architects in the UK.  Tigh Port nan Long , winner of a prestigious IAA Award last year, is one of six outstanding houses from across the UK that have been highlighted as outstanding examples of contemporay British architects. 

In the feature principal architect, Mary Arnold Forster, explains the ideas behind the design:

'The design creates two distinct forms with a stepped foundation, correspondening to the slope of the landscape, to give additional height to teh main living space and to allows views from teh kitchen, across teh dining space, to Eigg.

'The Proportions, massing and siting are derived from the traditional forms; narrow in span and tight to the ground.  It is clad in a skin of narrow larch.  Despite its obvious abstraction from the local vernacular it remains responsive to site and brief and conjures a sence of place.'

The article can be visited at www.architectsjournal.co.uk/6houses.