Date: 30 September 08
Author: Caroline Ednie, Web Editor
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A student from the Scott Sutherland School of Architecture and Built Environment at The Robert Gordon University has been awarded the annual Inverness Architectural Association Medal for his design idea of a new hotel at the Old Quarry at Rubislaw, Aberdeen.
All fifth year architecture students were given a brief to design a new hotel in one of six distinctive locations in Scotland. The winner of the medal is Ciaran Garrick (24) from Castlebar, County Mayo, Ireland. He was commended for being particularly imaginative in response to a difficult problem that would see the 'lost quarry' return to prominence as a tourist and business attraction for Aberdeen.
Ciaran describes the ideas behind his award winning design below:
“At the beginning of honours year we were given a choice between 4 sites. These were located at St. Andrews, Stirling, Cairngorms and Rubislaw Quarry, Aberdeen. I chose Rubislaw for the sole reason that I saw a greater potential to create something different, even though the site itself was probably had the most constraints. The varying cantilevered forms of the tower block, from an external perspective, are to show a building with vibrancy, a building that is not intimidated by the constricted nature of the site.
The brief required that we design a building that would serve as a hotel of a high standard, presumably aimed primarily at the neighbouring oil industry. I decided at quite an early stage to challenge the brief and expand the scope of what was required. Facilities such as leisure centre, meeting rooms for the corporate sector, and a café aimed at visitors were integral to my concept of creating a landmark for the Rubislaw area.
It was always my intention to draw the attention of the city of Aberdeen back to Rubislaw and for this reason I wanted to create a hotel with a landmark quality to it. While there is always the temptation to use materials that relate to the granite history of the quarry, I felt the hotel needed to adapt to the surrounding environment, whether it's the changing seasons, weather or simply night and day. For this reason I chose a combination of seamless aluminium panels and double skinned glazing on the south facade. Reflections off the cladding mould the building into the surroundings allowing the glazed facade to take centre stage in the skyline.
The entrance of a hotel is arguably the most important ingredient in hotel design. It projects the intended standard of the hotel and is often exploited as an advertising tool for potential customers. In opening Rubislaw quarry back into the public domain, a clear connection needed to be established between the quarry and the surrounding environment. In light of this I felt an open courtyard with an almost transparent entrance would be most successful. Locating the reception beneath the void of the glazed cube challenges the curiosity of the passer by and encourages further exploration.”
