LDN Architects, 57-59 Bread Street, Edinburgh (2025)

31/10/2024

The LDN team recently had the pleasure of visiting the Laurence Mackintosh Joinery Workshop in Edinburgh for a guided tour of their state-of-the-art facility.

The Laurence Mackintosh team are long-time LDN collaborators who strive to uphold the finest traditions of craftsmanship and joinery whilst embracing modern day innovation. Working with skilled artisans is vital to our work at LDN and seeing their passion for detail and dedication to traditional techniques firsthand was truly inspiring.

A big thank you to the team at for their warm hospitality and for showing us around!

18/10/2024

We are excited to share that we have officially moved into our new Edinburgh studio.

Located at 3 Jackson’s Entry, our new home is just around the corner from the Scottish Parliament and on the doorstep of the beautiful Holyrood Park and Arthur’s Seat.

We believe that great design comes through collaboration, sharing ideas, and feeling inspired where we work. Our new studio has a focus on spaces to be together, to meet and present our work, and support our talented and creative team. Every detail reflects our belief in the transformative potential of good design to improve people’s everyday lives.

We look forward to welcoming our clients and colleagues to our new home. Here’s to great teamwork and exciting projects ahead! 💻🌿☕

16/10/2024

Designing our new office fit-out

The fit-out of our new Edinburgh office has been completed by the LDN team in collaboration with John Dennis and Atrium Ltd to transform the original modular space into a vibrant studio, designed to inspire creativity and collaboration.

The fit-out design includes a complete remodel of the original floor plan to create a modern, functional, and inspiring open-plan workspace, as well as the first ever installation of Fluxwerx ‘Fold’ Lights in the UK.
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15/10/2024

Exciting news! We are delighted to announce the relocation of LDN Architect’s Edinburgh team to our new office at Gordon Lamb House, 3 Jackson’s Entry.

Located in Edinburgh’s historic Old Town, our new office is just steps away from Holyrood Park and offers stunning views of Arthurs Seat, the Scottish Parliament Building and the surrounding historic architecture, providing a perfect blend of inspiration and modernity.

This great location not only connects us to the city’s rich heritage but also offers our team and clients a serene, scenic environment to collaborate and create.

We’re thrilled to begin our next chapter from this fresh, inspiring environment and look forward to welcoming you soon!

✏️

22/03/2023

Professor Emeritus Sir James Dunbar-Nasmith
(1927-2023)

We were deeply saddened to learn of the death of our founding partner James Dunbar-Nasmith. James made a major contribution to architecture, conservation and architectural education over his long career and was passionate about the performing arts. He had a wide circle of family and friends and was an inspiration, mentor and friend to several generations of us. We will greatly miss his intellect, insight, sense of humour and, most of all, his all-round good company.

LDN Architects

12/08/2022

LDN Week in the Life #11 - Mina

I am almost at the end of my 6 month placement period at LDN, and as this was my first experience as a Part 1 Architectural Assistant in a practice. I can say that it has been such a great opportunity being able to work on a range of projects and learning so much valuable information on the way. Being new in the office, I received endless support from my colleagues and my mentor, making this a memorable experience. 

As I view site visits as extremely valuable learning opportunities, LDN was very supportive by taking me to various site visits around Scotland and England, seeing the projects I am involved in, in real life. I have had the opportunity to visit Glasgow, Killin and York!

More recently, I have been mostly focused on working on a church in Edinburgh and St Michael le Belfrey in York – two unique churches which are Category B and Grade I Listed respectively. 

In the beginning of the week, my mentor and I visited the contractor's workshop to discuss the works being produced for the interior. I thoroughly enjoyed being in the workshop and learning about the process of producing a CDP (Contractor’s design portion) item.

Later on in the week, my colleague and I took a trip down to York for a client meeting and surveying the Belfrey! As the structure is right next to York Minster, one of the largest Gothic churches in Northern Europe, it was an unforgettable  opportunity to be able to be part of a project of such historical significance.

I’ve had an exceptional time at LDN and am very excited to go back to my studies with all the new knowledge and skills I’ve acquired!

 

06/05/2022

Last week a couple of us were lucky enough to be out for a sunny day visit to Killin & Ardoenaig Church. We went to look in more detail at some of the key views from within the conservation area and from surrounding buildings of significance. A sensitive approach to the alterations is critical to ensure the new interventions do not negatively impact the integrity of the building, the Killin Conservation Area and wider Loch Lomond & Trossachs National Park.

05/04/2022

WE ARE HIRING!

Thanks to a breadth and diversity of exciting commissions, we are looking for talented Architectural Technologists, Architectural Assistants and Project Architects to join our fantastic team in Forres, Moray, tending to projects across Scotland.

We offer a nurturing environment, flexible working conditions and a place for your career to grow in a dynamic and well-established practice.

Applicants should be passionate, creative, organised, and able to demonstrate experience of working on projects across the RIBA Stages.

If you are interested in , , , and , get in touch by emailing a copy of your CV and examples of previous work to [email protected]. We will respond to all applications.

04/04/2022

LDN Week in the Life #005 – Calum Paterson

As an project architect, CA and employment mentor, with three exciting Edinburgh projects on site, my usual routine includes rewarding site visits, client / colleague liaison, design team coordination and contractor meetings.

My working week includes regular visits to our Morningside residential project at Canaan Lane, with .The new building carefully acknowledges the form of the traditional tenements, whilst acting as an important visual stop to the urban block prior to its reduction in scale. It was exciting to see the generous internal spaces and stunning top floor panoramic views of Blackford Hill, Braid Hills and the Pentlands gradually emerging from the five-storey superstructure.

The week continued with a first office meeting in two years, with a valued client (with impeccable taste) dropping past our Edinburgh office to discuss internal colour samples. This is always an important part of any project, with tactile experiences and a harmonious colour palette both crucial to the success of the architecture. A visit to the category B-listed building followed, which provided a great opportunity to review site progress and on-going safe removal of asbestos from the recently uncovered basement areas.

The site visits concluded with a trip to the historic St. Andrew’s Hall, to see our carefully detailed extension glinting proudly in the sunshine as part of the wider St. James Quarter masterplan.

Following a recent switch to hybrid working, my week ended with a coffee back at home (in an LDN project mug of course), prior to weekend wedding planning and questionable golf.

25/03/2022

LDN Week in the Life #004 – Kyle Scott

I started the week working from home looking at some design changes for a residential project, then returned to the office for the first time in almost 2 years, was nice to see people but will take time adjusting to the commute!

I spent the middle part of the week modelling a church project in Killin, and this impressive Tiffany stained glass window which our client is hoping to locate in the main church space as part of a remodelling project. Hopefully we will have some visuals from this to share soon!
The Engine Yard in Leith, Edinburgh is progressing nicely on site with the new openings being formed on the existing elevation.

Ending the week off with a trip to Florentine House in Glasgow where we are looking to complete a refurb. Opening up on site exposes what was once a tiled finish.

Then over the weekend took part in the Scottish Archery Indoor Championships and surprised myself with a win.

24/03/2022

Recently, we celebrated the completion of the second and final phase of the Inverness Creative Academy redevelopment project, in the heart of Inverness. Purpose-built as the original Inverness Royal Academy, in 1895, the building was later adapted to accommodate the University of the Highlands and Islands, before lying unoccupied for a number of years.

Now, thanks to , this Category B listed gem has been restored to its former glory, to be enjoyed by the public for the first time. In addition to its gallery and café spaces, the building also creates a hub for artists and creative professionals across the Highlands and Islands, with affordable office rental and flexible co-working spaces.

Thanks to the many more supporters!

08/03/2022

Happy International Women’s Day from LDN Architects to all past, present and future staff!

24/02/2022

LDN Architects takes great pride in our team – it makes us who we are - and in recognition of this we are encouraging individual insights to the working week - different, yet to a shared end. We hope you enjoy this feature as it filters through! 📝

23/02/2022

We are delighted to have three new team members in the Practice;

Maria Mitsoula is an Architect, with a PhD in Architecture by Design. Maria returns to practice after ten years of teaching architecture at the University of Edinburgh.

Mikele Perez-Jamieson is a Part 1 Architectural Assistant who will be undertaking a 6 month placement with us. She is currently studying MA (Hons) Architecture at the University of Edinburgh and also produces her own artwork inspired by textures found in rural landscapes.

Mina Pabuccuoglu is a Part 1 Architectural Assistant who is a MA (Hons) Architecture student at the University of Edinburgh and has joined us for her Part 1 placement period.

A very warm welcome to you all and we look forward to working with you! 🎨💻📏

17/02/2022

Pennan's appeal became heightened through its starring role in the film Local Hero - alongside Fulton Mackay, Jennifer Black, Burt Lancaster, Denis Lawson, Jenny Seagrove, Peter Riegert, John Gordon Sinclair (on a Suzuki 125) and a telephone box - written and directed by Bill Forsyth.

The village is, with an exception or two, a single ribbon of buildings set squarely in defiance of the North Sea. We just got consent allowing Number 40 to be transformed from a distressed but delightful boat-shed into a distressed but delightful house.

11/02/2022

Consent for this exciting project in central Kirkwall just arrived, taking a range of derelict structures to become a work and social hub. The existing spaces, materials and textures are beautiful - we will enhance them all.

01/02/2022

Now that we have emerged from the first month of 2022, a year which promises great things for us, we can reveal that some great things have already happened - Matt MacKinnon and Pinny Muir have become Associate Partners and Gill MacKenzie an Associate with the practice. Happy New Year!

22/12/2021

Provan Hall has thrown up many surprises, and throughout the project including during construction we have ensured that these are closely reviewed with the project team against our conservation philosophy which was set out at the start of the project. One such finding was the clear evidence of lime harling to the North Block, raising important discussions about the reinstatement of harling which we believe may have been removed as part of a programme of repairs in the 1930’s, a common approach at the time – although it is possible that it was removed at an earlier date.

After detailed analysis and review, as well as consultation with stakeholders, the project team agreed to go ahead with the change and submitted for Listed Building Consent. Working closely with
, , , & we have analysed samples of original mortar and carried out research to determine a suitable mix and finish for the harling – look out for more site photos with our progress so far!

   

LDN Architects