Julian Bicknell Associates - Architecture of Fine Quality

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ARRAGON MOOAR, ISLE OF MAN

This unique building, combining a museum of historic timepieces with a family house, occupies a wind-swept hillside overlooking the sea. The design was specifically to incorporate a series of oval rooms arranged around an oval atrium in a building of oval form. The oval recesses in the perimeter allow windows at the sides of all the main rooms to take in the spectacular views.

The house is constructed round a steel frame with profiled steel sheet and concrete floors. This served both to control the complex geometry of the plan and to allow the frame and roof to be erected quickly in the short summer building season. The secondary construction is in concrete block. The exterior is finished with a combination of red sandstone and a pebble-dashed render, using traditional materials and methods characteristic of the island.

The house also incorporates sophisticated heat-storage and closed ventilation systems to deal economically with the harsh northern climate.

Julian Bicknell & Associates is a London based architectural practice of thirty years standing, specialising in quality buildings, interiors and landscapes - mainly in classical or traditional style. The practice has worked for private clients and developers all over the UK and in Japan, Russia, the USA, Morocco, Germany and Kazakhstan. The work includes spacious country houses, luxury homes on the prestige estates at Wentworth and St. Georges Hill, museums, restaurants, theatres, schools, a golf club and modifications to important historic buildings. The design philosophy combines a deep sympathy for traditional design and building methods, with a full understanding of energy strategies and construction management. The practice works closely with other professionals and experienced craftsmen to achieve low-energy buildings of real quality within predetermined budgets.