It’s not like we’ve been boasting about it or anything but…. one of our projects was in Grand Designs magazine!
Surprise! It was, and still is an exciting time for the Solinear team.
Although Solinear has been featured in magazines and newspapers before, it has been largely due to our own promotional endeavours whereas on this occasion we knew nothing about our inclusion in a magazine. Also, the magazine in which we appeared was none other than Grand Designs magazine!
A little bit about Grand Designs magazine
Grand Designs magazine is the very popular, official monthly accompaniment to the hit television show, Grand Designs broadcast on Channel 4 and More 4 and presented by the ever-enthusiastic, Kevin McCloud.
The magazine is a design-led source of the latest architecture and construction ideas aiming to enthuse, inform and inspire self-builders and renovators to build the home they desire. With exclusive access to architecturally ground-breaking TV houses and UK homes, the magazine showcases the finest case studies and defines itself as ‘the go-to magazine for anyone undertaking an exciting project’.
So, we’re in Grand Designs magazine!
Alongside the narrative around Darwin House, there were lovely photos of the building featuring Solinear’s Medera western red cedar solar shading system, taken by well-respected architectural photographer Jim Stephenson (a selection of his photos was highlighted in our Spring 2019 newsletter). Credits to those who made this stunning project possible were listed on the last page of the Darwin House feature. Amongst those credits was Solinear.
To say we were ecstatic was an understatement. We nearly built an alter with a life-size Kevin McCloud made from timber off-cuts mounted on a plinth 20 pallets deep. The CMC machine would have been embarrassingly exploited to write out ‘Kevin, we love you’ in a blade of extruded aluminium and laid humbly at his feet.
Luckily for Kevin we kept our dignity and just splashed the news all over social media as well as our website.
We’ve been re-tweeted!
This kept us happy for a while, still bursting with pride that pictures of our solar shading were adorning six out of the ten pages dedicated to Darwin House and on the tenth page the Solinear name was mentioned along with the web address, when none other than Grand Designs themselves, not only liked our social media activity but then re-tweeted our posts! Elated didn’t cover it. Solinear had been noticed and we were milking it!
Pride
Darwin House is a project that we are exceptionally proud of, even before its feature in Grand Designs magazine, and quite rightly so. Aside from the obviously beautiful aesthetics of the attractive Medera western red cedar solar shading, there are the practicalities of the system; affording the inhabitants comfort and refuge from the heat and full glare of the sun. As the initial plan altered from fixed louvre panels to sliding louvre panels, our designers modified their plans in accordance with the requirements resulting in a more tailored solar shading system. All those involved in the Darwin House project have a great deal to be proud of.
At present Solinear’s projects tend to be more commercial and we have proved to be enormously successful in this area, however, we welcome domestic enquiries and can make exceptions depending on requirements and logistics. Having seen how well Solinear’s domestic work has been received, this is certainly an area we are looking at expanding on in the future.
And don’t worry, we haven’t let all this fame go to our heads – we’re still the humble, approachable, grounded individuals you know and love!
Click on link to view Darwin House case study: https://www.solinear.co.uk/case-study/darwin-holdings-as-featured-in-grand-designs-magazine/
