Date: 24 October 08
Author: Caroline Ednie, Web Editor
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The first of an exciting new generation of ‘Gateway’ buildings for the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh was opened at Dawyck, near Stobo in April 2008. The building replaces and expands their existing facilities to cater for ever-increasing visitor numbers and provides extensive accommodation for staff and maintenance equipment.
The simple, elegant new visitor centre nestles comfortably at the base of the steep hillside and at the same time sits lightly in the mature woodland garden both complementing and contrasting with the unique collection of specimen trees and shrubs. The low-lying structure acts as a screen between the busy car park and the tranquil garden, allowing only glimpses of the arboretum through the building, expressing the gateway and heightening the visitors’ sense of expectation.
The sustainability strategy was key to the design and massing of the building and was developed at a very early stage. The simple form of the building, with standardised structural grid, reduced material wastage and allowed for an efficient servicing route accessed within a floor duct along the ‘spine’ of the building. The building has under floor heating fed by a new woodchip boiler located in the low-key service building adjacent. It has a unfired clay brick
wall heat sink warmed by solar gain through the high level rooflights along the spine. This wall moderates the thermal response of the building. The rooflights also provide natural ventilation and light the centre of the building reducing the need for additional artificial lighting.
A simple labyrinth type ventilation system tempers the incoming air supply using the thermal mass of the ground floor slab, further reducing heating/cooling requirements. The low maintenance vegetative roof, planted with sedum - a dense, low growing, mat-forming succulent - is both practical and displays a literal green footprint reducing the visual impact of the building from the rising land within the garden itself.
Building materials were carefully chosen to harmonise with their imposing backdrop. The dark timber boarding and light oak structural timbers are designed to act as a foil to the soft reflective qualities of the copper wall cladding. Fully glazed public areas and innovative detailing allows durable natural materials to flow seamlessly from interior to exterior, reinforcing a sense of one-ness with the surrounding landscape.
Bronze Award for Best Public Building at the Roses Design Awards 2008
Project: Dawyck Gateway Visitor Centre
Architect: Simpson and Brown Architects
Client: The Royal Botanic Gardens. Funded by the Scottish Government and Scottish Borders Enterprise
Location: Peebles-shire
Link: http://www.simpsonandbrown.co.uk
Images: Simpson and Brown Architects
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