Gunnar Groves-Raines

As a young man, Gunnar Groves-Raines was desperate for something different. ‘Glasgow was exciting and energetic and looked like an ever-changing place where things actually happened,’ explains Groves-Raines. ‘I wanted to be in a city close to the mountains, lochs and the sea and ideally in Scotland. The architecture courses were excellent too …and free.’ He graduated from the University of Strathclyde in 2006 with a Master’s with distinction in advanced architectural design, worked with Lincoln & Campbell Quinn Associates throughout his studies and qualified as an architect in 2009, before co-founding the Groves-Raines Architects Studio. Artist Richard Wright, a Glasgow resident, former Turner Prize nominee and a graduate of The Glasgow School of Art has proved to be a key and lasting influence on his career. ‘Wright’s work has an ethereal, transformational effect on existing spaces that is inspiring to me as an architect,’ says Groves-Raines. ‘I had the pleasure of living in a flat that had housed one of his works but also suffered the pain of seeing it painted over, days before we moved in. Staring at the ceiling, knowing what was behind the emulsion filled me with wonder and respect.’
ADDRESS
University of Strathclyde
16 Richmond St,
Glasgow
G1 1XQ
0141 552 4400
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Ellie Stathaki is the Architecture & Environment Director at Wallpaper*. She trained as an architect at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece and studied architectural history at the Bartlett in London. Now an established journalist, she has been a member of the Wallpaper* team since 2006, visiting buildings across the globe and interviewing leading architects such as Tadao Ando and Rem Koolhaas. Ellie has also taken part in judging panels, moderated events, curated shows and contributed in books, such as The Contemporary House (Thames & Hudson, 2018), Glenn Sestig Architecture Diary (2020) and House London (2022).
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