Date: 27 May 08
Author: Caroline Ednie, Web Editor
Email this Article
| Click to Print
The Culloden Battlefield Memorial Centre, designed by Gareth Hoskins Architects, is the result of an international design competition which was held by the National Trust for Scotland in 2004.
As the location of the last land battle within the UK - where King George II’s troops defeated Bonnie Prince Charlie and his Jacobite supporters in 1746 - the virtually untouched Culloden site is of major international and historical significance. The project, which includes the reinterpretation and reinstatement of the landscape of the battlefield and a new 1000m sq. museum, was designed in collaboration with international exhibition designers Ralph Appelbaum Associates, with input from a wide range of historians and archaeologists.
Set back from the actual battlefield, the landscape-hugging building is defined by a wave-form roof and a 150m long ‘berm’ wall that passes through the building and out into the landscape, defining the position of the Government troop line on the actual battlefield. The new centre includes a series of exhibition spaces, educational space, restaurant, shop, and support facilities. A landscaped roof platform offers panoramic views over the battlefield, which is the final resting place for over 1800 soldiers.
The building itself has been designed as a model of environmental sustainability. It is positioned to reduce wind-chill and take advantage of natural daylight. Its heavily insulated envelope is clad in locally sourced larch, Caithness stone and site-salvaged field stone, and heat is provided via a woodchip burning biomass boiler system, supplied from local forestry sources.
The building will have its official opening on 16th April 2008, the anniversary of the battle.
Project: Culloden Battlefield Memorial Centre
Architect: Gareth Hoskins Architects
Client: National Trust for Scotland
Location: Culloden Moor, Inverness
Link: http://www.garethhoskinsarchitects.co.uk/
Images: Gareth Hoskins Architects
Be the first to comment on this article click here.
