I have been involved in the creation of buildings all my life. My early memories of buildings begin with the stone walls of the Scottish seaside town of Helensburgh, well-known for the Hill House by Scotland’s most famous architect, Charles Rennie Mackintosh —the designer of my favourite building, the Glasgow School of Art. I have proud memories of being allowed to lay a brick in the wall of the house my father built at around age 4, and attending site meetings around age 12. I have a deep love of beautiful places and making places that uplift the lives of the people who live there. I focus on enduring quality to make every site a better place in 50 years than it was before I started. I usually use materials that are not innovative. To me the best materials for buildings have been around a while; stone, timber, bricks, concrete, plaster, steel glass and aluminium. These are the elements I see that endure and that keep me coming back for more.A good building is not made in an afternoon. It’s refined over time and it’s always doing more than onething at any given moment. It’s the balance of all the elements that reflect the choices we make alongthe way, and how that creates the backdrop to lives of those who live there —a backdrop that aims tomake their lives better, makes their story better.I have an unashamed love for luxury. For me, that is making life better by adapting the places we live and work to suit the individual. It’s also getting away to the mountains and feeling the freedom of skiing in the wilderness, sleeping in a back country hut. Luxury means different things to different people. For some, it’s a well-designed kitchen to make meals for their family. For others it’s the connection with nature found only on the peak of a mountain or a secluded beach. Whatever it is, in my practice of architecture, I’m all about getting to know what ‘it’ is for each of my clients and delivering that to them from the conception and refinement of their ideas, through to their finished building and beyond as they use and bring their place to life.I make one off houses that endure, for the people who want to live in them.