Country House Design Studio is the architectural practice of Ranald Boydell, building on 30 years experience in the UK and his native Australia. The practice has particular expertise in Country Houses, whether rural, coast or mountain, a weekend getaway or full working estate.
We see architecture, interiors and gardens as an integral whole, especially for the Country House with its unique combination of romantic natural setting and pragmatic day-to-day demands. We work collaboratively with interior and landscape designers to create a cohesive project, inspired by the historic partnerships of Lutyens and Jekyll in Britain, or Wilkinson and Walling in Australia.
Beyond the Country House, we work across a broad range of architectural sectors including commercial and community projects. For Town Houses, we take that same approach of integrating building and environment within the much tighter constraints of a dense urban setting. We are experienced with heritage conservation, including conversions and adaptive reuse, and sustainable development (read more here).
Well considered design is at the heart of how we practice architecture. The buildings we live and work in shape our lives, and architecture has enormous influence over a diverse range of issues, from the practical functioning of a space, to cultural and aesthetic styles, and our sense of community. We believe good architecture should seek to identify and resolve the often unspoken issues behind a brief, and to bring order and awareness to a setting which might have started with random and disparate elements.
Our regional base in the UK is around Edinburgh, the Lothians, Borders, and Northumberland, and in Australia the Hunter Valley, New England and North Coast, but we often undertake projects elsewhere and are interested in enquiries from further afield. Studio based design is a key aspect of our approach, with digital technology and the internet enabling this remote working.
Ranald Boydell studied architecture at The University of Sydney and Edinburgh College of Art, and is registered as an architect with the NSW ARB in Australia. He also teaches sustainable development at Edinburgh and Heriot Watt universities, and is a founding member of Architects Declare in Australia, a global response to climate change by the architecture profession.
The main objective is to improve the dwellings of the great mass of society, in the temperate regions of both hemispheres; a secondary object is to create and diffuse among mankind, generally, a taste for architectural comforts and beauties.
Joseph Claudius Loudon, The Encyclopaedia of Cottage, Farm and Villa architecture, 1834.
