Old Town Housing Association, Edinburgh Canongate Housing for Old Town Housing Association, Edinburgh by Richard Murphy Architects

Old Town Housing, Edinburgh

Richard Murphy Architects Old Town Housing Association housing, 112 Canongate, Edinburgh 1999 Private Housing: nine flats; access to ground floor shop only. building photo © adrian welch sep 2007 with lumix camera Quirky low-budget Old Town housing with a contemporary twist. Canongate Housing photo © Adrian Welch The Masterplanner stipulated that this building be both a 'Talisman' for the area and Housing Association flats, hard to achieve within budget constraints of Scottish Homes' grants system. The 'tower house' design evolved out of both the tight width, height and overlooking restrictions and the Old Town context of asymmetry, exposed staircases, exuberant roofs and galleried windows. Old Town Housing: Canongate image from Richard Murphy Architects This five-storey building for the Old Town Housing Association (three doors up) has a glazed shopfront at the base with red-coloured render for stairs to the left (sliding behind a square layer of glass blocks), with white render above for the flats. Canongate Housing image © Adrian Welch The phrase sculpted in curvy metal above the shopfront was added by the Old Town Housing Association after completion. At the top of the front façade the building jetties out in three unequal sections, clad in horizontal wood boarding. Asymmetry is produced from varying materials - such as small mesh panels - scale, and details. In summary the frontage has a quirky Old Town feel; it doesn't shout but it also isn't overly polite. Old Town Housing: Canongate image from Richard Murphy Architects Canongate Housing - build cost: £300k Canongate: image © Adrian Welch Edinburgh Old Town Architecture Tour Old Town Housing Association: Canongate Housing photo © Adrian Welch Scottish Architecture Edinburgh Walking Tours Context for the above buildings: Royal Mile Richard Murphy - some of the Edinburgh Buildings featured: Fruitmarket Gallery Royal Fine Arts Commission Canongate Housing Moray Place Oloroso Dublin Street Richard Murphy - some of the Scottish Buildings featured: Dundee Contemporary Arts Stirling Tolbooth Edinburgh Housing Edinburgh : back to index Canongate Housing image © Adrian Welch Adjacent to this housing for the Old Town Housing Association is the Scottish Poetry Library (see above image, right)