Richard Murphy is one of the outstanding architects currently practising in Scotland. English-born, he did his architectural training in the universities of Newcastle and Edinburgh and, except for a year in London with Richard MacCormac, he has spent most of his working life in Edinburgh. After setting up and running a Scottish office for Alsop & Lyall, he started his own practice in 1992 on the strength of a competition win.
During a period of teaching at Edinburgh he was doing research on Carlo Scarpa's work in Castel Vecchio, Verona, and Querini Stampalia, Venice, about both of which he has written books, curated exhibitions, collaborated on a film, and become a recognised Scarpa expert.
In 1996 his firm won a competition for Dundee Art Gallery and they have recently completed houses in Eire and Holland. But before that, most of their work was to existing buildings in Edinburgh which he describes in his recorded talk.
There are recurring themes in their work: transforming the skin or the internal elements of a building, using sliding panels or screens to open or close in summer or winter, and contriving to bring light into the centre. To express or over-express the making of a building or its elements, they believe gives architecture its potential richness.
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