Chisholm, Rory

Associate Member

‘Architecture does not only respond to the functional and conscious intellectual and social needs of today’s city dweller; it must also remember the primordial hunter and farmer concealed in the body. Our sensations of comfort, protection and home are rooted in the primordial experiences of countless generations … The body knows and remembers’.

– Juhani Pallasmaa

Statement 

I am interested in our primal roots. As a practicing architect I am able to explore ways to maintain (or reconnect with) those roots in a modern context, through both my designs and my drawings.

Sometimes this is achieved through my work adapting historic buildings, or through new architecture that creatively interprets traditional building typologies. Sometimes this materialises through drawings which evoke a primal, sensory experience of place.

The arts of architecture and drawing can both serve as a medium to bring the user or viewer closer to our collective roots; and in doing so foster a sense of wellbeing and shared human experience.   

Biography 

Rory is an Associate Architect at Donald Insall Associates and teaches at the Manchester School of Architecture. 

He has exhibited drawings at The Royal Academy of Arts, The Royal West of England Academy, The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) and the Manchester HOME Open Exhibition. He has twice been a winner of the RIBA Journal’s international ‘Eyeline’ drawing competition and has been published in The Architect’s Journal, RIBA Journal, Drawing Matter, Arch Daily, World Architecture and Architizer.

Websites 

See Rory’s drawings here         

See Rory’s architecture here