Usama presented his talk on a previous project at this weeks Friday Forum. This Friday Forum topic covered the preliminary design stages of a private villa in one of Muscat’s coastal suburbs. The site (30m above sea level and 15m wide by 41.3m long) sits on a rock peninsula facing North West and opens up elevated and uninterrupted views of the Gulf of Oman. Exploiting the site’s geographical position has influenced the building’s design and program arrangement. The design aims…

Kettle Collective were delighted to be mentioned in the Scotsman “Real Homes: compassion shines at Ripple Retreat” article To find out more about The Ripple Retreat visit the project page here.

Lauren presented at this weeks Friday Forum, her talk was about her experiences on a recent trip to Japan. This was a short presentation on a recent visit to Japan. Japan encompasses extremes of landscape, climate, population, contemporary culture and food for a country that is relatively small. From awesome Blade Runner cityscapes, to old Kyoto temples and gardens to the northern city of snowy Sapporo, it has it all. Japan’s cities offer a window into the future in many…

Sailing off the coast of St. Petersburg. We are thrilled to see the Lakhta Tower taking shape. Find out more about the Lakhta Tower here.   (Video courtesy of Dmitriy via)

Kettle Collective are looking forward to hosting a table at the President Barack Obama Dinner tonight at the EICC, Edinburgh. The event, hosted by the Hunter Foundation looks to be an inspiring evening for business and philanthropy leaders in Scotland with an address from the 44th President of the United States.

Kettle Collective are thrilled to announce that the DEWA Solar Innovation Centre has been awarded the ArchiCAD Sustainable Project of the Year 2017. On the back of winning Middle East Sustainable Project of the Year 2014 and 2016. To find out more about The DEWA Solar Innovation Centre visit the project page here.

We were delighted to make a team trip to visit the recently opened Ripple Retreat on Friday. It was fantastic to see everything coming together, and to be able to spend time enjoying the unreal views, and tranquility of the surrounding landscape. We are immensely proud of this project at Kettle Collective, and the difference we believe it is going to make to families lives. We hope that this special retreat will provide the space, quiet, and fun needed for…

The Ripple Retreat is a purpose built sanctuary for children and families affected by cancer. On Friday the 12th of May, Tony Kettle, Colin Bone, and Cathal Morgan attended the Official Opening of the Ripple Retreat on the shores of Loch Venacher. Present at the opening was Lorraine Kelly, who cut the ribbon and formally opened the retreat for It’s Good 2 Give. Among those present were supporters, donors and contributors, including Grant Stott who gathered together to celebrate the…

We were extremely excited this week to have Andrew Mackenzie come into our Edinburgh studios as part of our Friday Forum series. Andrew Mackenzie is a Scottish painter and printmaker. He graduated with an MFA from Edinburgh College of Art in 1993, and lives and works in the Scottish Borders. His work has been exhibited extensively both nationally and internationally, and is represented in many collections. He is currently president of Visual Arts Scotland. “I’ll provide some background to my…

This week Will presented his talk on “Part III is easy”. In order to become an architect, it is necessary to pass the RIBA’s Parts I, II & III, the latter of these being a part-time degree whilst in the work place. This presentation was aimed at describing the criteria for becoming a Part III architect, the methods of assessment, and how this relates to our work. The RIBA’s qualifications are based upon the UK framework, and although much of…

Kettle Collective were pleased to welcome the Rt. Hon. Donald Wilson, Lord Lieutenant and Lord Provost of the City of Edinburgh to our studios yesterday to meet the team, and view some of our current projects. Then Tony Kettle and Colin Bone took the Lord Provost out onto George Street to fly the Kettle Collective drone…

This week Celine presented a thoroughly interesting talk on “Mathematics In The History Of Architecture”. Mathematics have been linked to architecture throughout the centuries, starting in Ancient Egypt where geometry was the key element for the pyramids’ builders. When looking at architecture before the 20th century, one can realise that there used to be a dialectic between architecture in relation to the Divine and architecture in relation to the Human Being. Mathematics have played a role in both cases, either…

The RSA Architecture Open 2017 is part of the 191st Royal Scottish Academy Annual Exhibition, and it is hosted at the National Gallery of Scotland between the 1st of April – 7th of May 2017. This section of the exhibition is dedicated to contemporary architectural work, designed by leading architects from Scotland and abroad, and carefully selected by John McAslan, the Deputy Convenor of the RSA Exhibition. Kettle Collective is honoured to have been selected to display a model of…

Khairul Khalifah continued his series concentrating on ArchiCAD “ArchiCAD: Lets Start Again”. The second of 4 of a series of talks on Archicad focused on understanding attributes, from editing and creating custom hatch fills, composites and materials, to the management of the attribute table. The presentation also detailed the various libraries in use within the practice, and how each of the libraries are to be linked to individual project models.

This week Kettle Collective have featured in an architectural exhibition at our Dubai studio in the Dubai Design District D3. Kettle Collective took this opportunity to showcase the Solar Innovation Centre and The Piers for the local design community. For more information on the Solar Innovation Centre and The Piers visit the project pages here.

As the Ripple Retreat is soon to be completed, Cathal Morgan presented this week’s Friday Forum with an overall review of the project.“Ripple Retreat – Practical Completion”. The presentation allowed studio members to gain an insight into the complexities of construction, detailing of materials used, and obstacles the design team had to overcome in the creation of the Ripple Retreat. The presentation lead into an open and insightful conversation about the project.

This week Khairul Khalifah presented his seminar on “ArchiCAD: Lets Start Again”. The first out of 4 parts that aim to improve the Team’s understanding and use of Archicad, this week’s Friday Forum, titled Archicad: Let’s Start Again” focuses on basic principles of the award winning BIM application. With topics such as Workspace Management, View Management, Layer Discipline and Maintaining Accuracy, the talk reinforces the need to maintain modelling and documentation standards to ensure integrity of the BIM model though…

The Lord Lieutenant, the Rt Hon Lord Provost of Edinburgh has invited the Kettle Collective team to the Edinburgh City Chambers for a drinks reception to celebrate winning the Queen’s Award for Enterprise, on behalf of Her Majesty the Queen. Kettle Collective won the Queen’s Award in April 2016, the most coveted business award on the back of soaring international trade. The Queen’s Award is awarded for “outstanding achievement resulting in substantial growth, sustained over a minimum period of 3…

Kettle Collective has kicked off 2017 with a series of Friday Forum talks. This is a platform for our team, and invited guests, to share ideas, techniques, or simply to present something interesting. An opportunity to learn, discuss, and build presentation skills, participation in this forum is an opportunity to encourage creative thinking, and improve our practices. Kate Shirkina has begun our 2017 series with her talk on “Sustainable practices in Middle Eastern high-rise structures”. In different parts of the…

As a new year starts, we take a look at our favourite moments at Kettle Collective from 2016. We were honoured to have won such prestige awards this year, including the Queens Award for Enterprise 2016 and the SEPA One Planet Award at the Scottish Business Awards. Our sustainable approach to design continued to the success of the Solar Innovation Centre in Dubai being awarded the Sustainable Project of the Year at the Middle East Architect Awards 2016. Kettle Collective…