Letting the light in - McAvoy House - Mill O Braco - Garioch Awarded for Sustainability and new Housing

Carpentry Jointed Green Oak Frame and Granite House. A new House Tuned to local Climate that plays with Natural Light and a mountain view. McAvoy House - Mill o Braco - The Garioch - Aberdeenshire.

THE PRACTICE OFFERS DESIGN SERVICES IN THE FOLLOWING  :-

Adaptive reuse.
Design of Carpentry based structures.
Domestic Scale Architecture
Advice on Building Conversions.
Community
Buildings
Community Development 
Feasibility
Manufacturing Drawings. 
Self Build Advice
Historic Building Surveys and sympathetic Approach to re use. 
Building Condition Surveys
​Micro Buildings
Mobile and demountable Structures.
Play space 
Landscape Planning and Design at a domestic Scale.

Influenced by Amy Floweree - "Hame"

Hand Drawing is enjoyed + toward Bespoke and Handcrafted results.

Andrew McAvoy Final Project of Architecture School in 1991 Local resource based Housing

As Will Alsop said " Knock Nothing Down " Reuse and reconsider as we did at Taransay Schoolhouse

Castaway to Cove

Regional (North) variation in the historic and projected use of Cruck's

Advice on sourcing and processing Timber

Co ordinating the selection and processing of Native Timber - In this Case rare wind fallen Sessile Oak on Gairloch

Grand Designs 2004

On going Specialist Framing

New Architecture from Old techniques

Passive Solar House allowing for warmth to be shared via a piped underfloor water based Heating system. McAvoy House - Mill o Braco - Garioch

RETOOL Architecture Ltd. Is a company registered in Scotland. No - SC 464239
Registered at The Coo​per Building
505 Great Western Road
Glasgow G12 8HN

The Practice is directed by its Director, founder + principal Architect -
Andrew James Alexander McAvoy RIAS

Andrew has been fully qualified and registered with the Governing body of Architects in the UK (including Scotland) - The Architects Registration Board ARB since 1993. Registration No - 062072F
Andrew has been an associate member of the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland RIAS since 1994. Membership No - 6054

The practice adheres to the "Code of Conduct", Practice guidelines and Fee Scales set by RIAS.

Standard appointment Documents prepared by RIAS are used by the practice.

The Practice carries statutory Indemnity Insurance in line with the standards set by the Architects Registration Board.

BACK GROUND AND EXPERIENCE

Prior to Architecture Schooling. Andrew worked in a paper mill,  on various building sites, as a "Shuttering Joiner in rural Cyprus.

He later trained  in a number of Carpentry yards where he developed an understanding of where materials come from and how precious they are.

Andrew then spent 8 years on the European Architectural Competition Circuit and in some of Europe's best innovative practices, before commencing with his own practice.in 1999. Those formative experimental architecture years drive the practice forward critically and encourage drawing and redrawing, until the design phase is necessarily and thoroughly complete.

Out of this -  hands on practical experience -  grew an ability to understand construction from the makers perspective as well as the clients .

The practice promotes :-
Enjoyment Fun and quality in the making of buildings,.

Celebration, sourcing and use of traditional and locally resourced materials to reduce embodied Carbon footprints.

Engagement of skilled craftspeople carrying forward traditions in localised making.

Legibility in the Structure of a Building and its fabric.

The practice encourages a localised focus on each project and will check the history and story of a particular place as a starting point.

The practice chases an " unselfconscious process of the refinement of construction "*
*(Peter. Salter )

The Practice was originally formed as Blast architects in 1999, to consider how to carefully make and place Architecture that takes  care of Ecology and Environment.
It began by focusing on the synthesis of native stonework, Locally sourced Timber and clean technology . It began on the west Coast of Scotland and concentrated on the specifics of  Landscape and climate there.

The practice has won several National and Regional Awards for sustainability and progressive bespoke Houses pushing environmental consciousness.

It has been widely published in all National Media.

It featured on Grand Designs with "The Long House" in 2003 and was revisited in 2004
It recently featured Internationally in Dwell Magazine with the Corden House at Little Mill  of Clinterty which you will find in the Portfolio section.

Retool Architecture brings all of Blast Architects and Andrew McAvoy,s own work in other practices and presents them under the umbrella of Retool. 

All work sited on this website is work conceived and hand drawn by Andrew McAvoy.

Some of it was developed with help from some wonderful people.

Where it was deployed via former practices or in collaboration it is stated .

Retool continues to enjoy valued contributions from some wonderful people.

These you will find in the people section of the site.

Since 2017 the practice has embraced The Scottish Empowerment Act and emerging Roles affecting change.
Andrew was a founding Trustee of The George Wyllie Foundation and Project Managed the Design of The Greenock Ocean terminal through several phases through the office of Richard Murphy architects , pushing at all times the objectives of Scottish Arts amidst competing Commercial drivers.
Working with Matt Bremner he took the project to Submission of the final Planning application in 2018.
Community architecture has emerged to change more bottom up process and Andrew performed the role of Community  Development Manager and Project Manager for the Pollokshields Trust - over 4 years from 2017 establishing the Mark Makers Community common in East Pollokshields - handing it over to a group of community representatives.in August 2020 amidst Covid.

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PRACTICE EMBRACES
AN ENVIRONMENTALLY RESPONSIBLE  ETHOS

The practice stemmed from a simple belief that Architecture should be derived where possible from the specifics of place.
Architecture should continue to find its derivation from the long established trades, skills and materials of the place it is to find itself.

It must do that  with a view to mimimising the impact on ever depleting material and natural  resources.
Architecture should allow for an "unselfconscious process of refinement of Construction "
It should make moves now towards future Proofing .

Early years.:_

Over many years Andrew recorded the Mud brick villages of the Akamas peninsula in the wilderness peninsula of Cyprus and promoted those within a National Park campaign that would keep the overly zealous  developers at bay. The marine environment was not coping !
Some Buildings were preserved and some Buildings  have now fallen back to nature without detrimental effect on their surroundings .

The study of these remains of great importance to the practice....in their gentle narrative .

They serve as exemplars of Ecologically minded Architecture.
Extensive time on building sites in formative years has led to an ability to work closely with specific trades and materials.

It has an interest in Building systems.

From time in some great offices came determination for the A in Architecture - ( form space and order)

The practice now chases a methodology based on both system and aesthetic.
As well as sensitive new build the practice, exists to look after the gentle and threatened things in the built environment that are all too easily swept away.

In pursuing that, it embraces a role of care for:- Industrial and Agricultural Buildings and their commonly missing Heritage,

It has worked sensitively with a number of listed Buildings to save them.

WE say - "Knock Nothing Down !
​
We  are presently engaged in finding strategies for transition toward Sustainability including the adaptive reuse of our built legacy.

We love Architecture with a capital A.

And we will strive toward that.

We extend convert and reconfigure to enable people to progress in their existing environment.
Effectively adapting and upgrading buildings and places for new requirements and challenges.  

We work at different scales .

At a small scale we are involved in the placement of Architecture objects as community engagement tools.

At a larger scale we are planning alternative housing groupings and formulating new building systems.

An appreciation of material, craftspeople  and craftsmanship are key drivers for the practice.

We believe that Architecture must remain to be,- of specific place material and narrative and that begins with people. 

As defined by French Philosopher Mark Auge.

It must resist the advent of "Non Place" and the bi-products of that - Insignificance and transience.

Whether its a piece of furniture, a new Eco House or the adaptive reuse of a 17th Century Mill, we work with Clients toward a localised significance.

We pursue low impact dwelling that is specific to its location.

Survey of Cypriot Stone House - A McAvoy

The Laona or "Peace" Project Cyprus Counter to mass tourism.

100% recycled Materials in Pods

Recording and campaigning for the retention of specifics of Regional Building Stock Laona Village House Cyprus

Familiarity with our Clients and sharing an ethos of grace.
Grace in transition to a manageable +  sustainable future.

Tree Top dwelling

Tree Top dwelling

Tree Top dwelling

Tree Top dwelling

REMOVING FEAR + POSITIVE ENGAGEMENT

As our Climate changes and Energy bills and dependency are increasing - Architecture has a role to play in freeing people from fear.

As Mark Auge warns us “ anthropological spaces of transience,  that do not hold enough significance to be regarded as places” will become the norm .
Everything is becoming similar Internationally and our landscape is being filled with buildings that are already unfit for the agendas we will be facing as the worlds population rises to its peek in 35 years. .

RETOOL Architecture will encourage positive engagement with positive materials, people and cultures.

FUTURE PROOF

The Practice retains fear of denudation of our Cities and hopes for better transition to a steadier state or Sustainability.

A state of being where Buildings .are not just  dropped from "outer space" without Buckminster  Fullers grace.

By developing narrative and new forms, we will ensure that their link to the territory they embrace  is not so tenuous to pursue Non Place agendas.

Buildings will not have  as architect Ted Cullinan once said  
" a link to their setting so tenuous that they could be flicked by a finger ...easily ...of the face of the Earth.."

WHAT WE WILL DO

We will ground well in good orientation to weather.
We will encourage the real narrative in the everyday of every place .
We will merit the Everyday + your Every Day behaviour and facilitate ease in that

We will avoid the advent of your place being "non place" via listening and careful attention to design , material and your  views,

We will enable what you; the client,  asks for and advise on sensible approaches to careful makers.

We will engage carefully with you as clients

We will  continue to work and listen to the makers and the crafts people.

We will work with people who are understanding of the need for transition to a gentler infrastructure that is more respectful of the environment.

We will rate and embrace those who wish to put buildings and landscapes together carefully and sustainably.

UTILISING :-

Lightness of being + Joy in the everyday details.
Robustness
Energy performance.
Non Toxic Materials
Natural and replenishable materials 
Recyclable materials

UNLEASHING :-
The nature of materials
The effects of natural light
The softness of Textiles and interiors
The Suns warmth in the fabric of Home.

ACHIEVING

Sensory embellishment
Low Impact dwelling
Low Energy dwelling
Low maintenance dwelling
Future Proof dwelling

Contended Dwelling.