Bobby Halliday
Architect featured in Building Dream Homes
My father was a bricklayer and my grandfather a carpenter 鈥� so I obviously have construction in my bones.
As a teenager I laboured with my dad: building walls & garages, learning the trade where I grew up in Springburn. The simplicity of building bricks and concrete to form incredible structures inspired me to apply to university as an Architecture student.
After school years and a stint at being a mod, I was accepted at GlasgowUniversity / Mackintosh School of Art. It was a long course (brain surgeon long!) and, after qualifying, I managed to get a job right away in an architect's office in Glasgow opposite the famous Charles Rennie MacIntosh Willow Tearooms on Sauchiehall Street. After looking across at that property lying empty for 6 months, I approached the owner of the jeweller who used the ground floor to enquire whether I could reopen the upper floor as a tearoom, to which he replied "Yes, but you are crazy?" I organised replica furniture, lights, etc, and it opened to (continued) roaring success! After a year working in this office my boss told me I should be working on my own as I had enough clients lined up. I did just that and it's been the same ever since.
Architecture, model making and designing is my life. I have a passion for consuming ideas from magazines, films and books then translating those ideas into new forms & projects for clients. Broadening clients' horizons to develop their ideas is a great personal satisfaction.
You will never find a wealthy architect, but the rewards are more than financial.
