Date: 03 February 09
Author: Caroline Ednie, Web Editor
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The inaugural RSA New Contemporaries exhibition which took place from 14-25 February 2009, was developed from the annual RSA Student Exhibition. RSA New Contemporaries was seen as an opportunity to give 60 of the finest emerging artists in Scotland the opportunity to showcase a selection of new work; including painting, sculpture, film making, photography, printmaking, architecture and installation.
The artists were selected from the 2008 Degree shows by members of the Royal Scottish Academy (lead by Prof. Will Maclean RSA) and representatives from the five main colleges of art and six schools of architecture in Scotland.
RSA New Contemporaries represents the RSA’s commitment to supporting and presenting the best contemporary work in Scotland and the RSA team is working closely with the artists and architects towards developing a lasting relationship in the lead up to the exhibition and beyond.
Colin Greenslade, RSA Programme Director, commented: “We envisaged that the development of this exhibition will be one of the most important initiatives for emerging artists in Scotland each year, enabling a ‘first exhibition’ opportunity for some 60+ emergent artists annually. The exhibition will be an unique opportunity to see the best of Scotland’s emerging talent under one roof.”
Below, we take a close look at the six architecture graduates and their projects that featured in the exhibition. (Click on images to enlarge):
FIONA BEVERIDGE. GRADUATED: STRATHCLYDE UNIVERSITY
The Islands That Roof The World : A proposal to re-establish a Scottish slate industry on the west coast of Scotland.
Scottish slate is an invaluable resource. As stocks of reclaimed slate decrease, the distinctive characteristics of our indigenous buildings are being lost. The re-establishment of a slate quarrying industry in Scotland would be of significant value, economically and socially reinvigorating rural communities.
Focused on a coastal village on Luing, this project presents Cullipool as the starting point for the development of a boat based quarrying strategy. Developed using a series of stop motion animation techniques, the architectural proposal presents the development of a harbour and slate processing plant. The detailed scheme sits within an outline proposal of further industrial and social developments on Luing and the overall extraction of slate seams throughout the west coast of Scotland.
Rethinking traditional quarrying typologies, the industrial spaces are immediately rooted in the landscape, carved from the seams which are processed within them. The temporary nature of the industrial spaces and investment of the slate waste in community projects aim to present a scheme which is sensitive to the fragile landscape on which the industry relies.
NICK CRAWFORD. GRADUATED: MACKINTOSH SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE
The seaplane has made a return to Glasgow after more than 50 years with the first service in Europe to operate from a city centre, linking to towns and islands on the west coast. This project proposes a move downstream from Pacific Quay to Central Station, and an increase in flight frequency and destinations. It considers the potential for a sustainable and integrated transport system within today’s compact city, proposing seaplanes, which require limited infrastructure and have the potential to be located in the heart of any city containing an expanse of water.
Situated on the Clyde at one of the key crossing points, the building heightens the intensity of traffic marking the intersection of the river, rail and road arteries, offering multiple opportunities for travellers, passers by and tourists alike. The project includes a 100 room 5-star hotel in order to maximise the site’s unique location. The building, given its unique location on the Clyde, is driven by unique structural and environmental parameters as well as its symbolic significance as a 'gateway' to the city.
Existing granite piers are used to support a new linking footbridge which spans across the river and passes beneath the hotel tower allowing views up into the full-height atrium. The tower considers what density of development the river’s edge demands and can sustain, while providing the opportunity of dramatic views along the river, to the sea beyond and the spectacle of the seaplanes and their flight paths. The footbridge continues down to the terminal platforms, which unfold beneath the bridge towards the water, always allowing passengers and passers-by to see the planes coming and going beneath the bridges and along the water.
STEVEN JAMES MAY. GRADUATED: UNIVERSITY OF DUNDEE, SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE
An Examination of the Representations of Venice.
In its past reflection there was more life than the world in which it had existed. Venice and its reflections. Reflecting both its physical and metaphysical characteristics in its many representations do we find the actual and virtual representations of an empire lost in time. In almost all portrayals do we find the celebration of the most serene republic.
What is it about Venice that evokes such universal fondness and re-imagination? There is the inherently paradoxical situation in the constant stream of new imagery of this city at the end of its existence; or is it? Do these new representations move the spirit of Venice from its decaying, atrophying physical locale to the common collective consciousness and life eternal?
In my thesis work I examined some of the representational methods used and the language of such portrayal, and invest the gleaned knowledge towards an integrated design project. Venice may not be with us for much longer but as it decays, the nostalgia and regard for things such known and lost continue to enthral and interest the subject of Venice to the world at large. In this spirit of such wistfulness; Venice is Dead. Long live Venice!
JANE MULVEY. GRADUATED: EDINBURGH COLLEGE OF ART, SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE
The Collective Incubator
Architecture operates as propaganda in this metaphoric representation of a city. Selected programmes act as vehicles to comment on banalisation while visitors are presented with new ways of thinking and better ways of living.
The Collective Incubator arose from examining the Scottish Central Belt. Neither rural or urban, the depressing sprawl offers no benefits. Designated urban strips will appear replacing the banality, which ultimately frees up surrounding land to be left natural, reinstated with forestry, and to introduce wind farms to generate a sustainable and self-sufficient future for the new cities.
With architecture comes the inherent responsibility of leaving a physical footprint. By responding to today's climate change (political, environmental, social and cultural), projects can embed these critical issues and become more than a space to inhabit, but a source for propaganda and a testing ground for new ideals and future living. I experimented with this in my honours project, and continue to explore the potential further within my diploma topic of Twenty-First Century Decadence, which I am currently undertaking at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Copenhagen.
By tackling issues that some may avoid or find distressing, I intend not to force these ideas upon people, but
display them so that a level of critical awareness and education into the subject matter can be achieved. Whilst studying architecture, I have worked within the offices of Studio Daniel Libeskind in New York, and the Office for Metropolitan Architecture, Rotterdam. Both inspired and motivated me to a new destination in rigorous research and original thinking within architecture.
ROSS PERKIN. GRADUATED: UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH, SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE
The 2 year Master of Architecture (MArch) at the University of Edinburgh is an ambitious Part 2 course that seeks to integrate research and design in the production of architectural proposals for a specified European city. Over the course of academic year 2007-08, Ross developed a project for a Centre for Film in Andalucía within a decaying urban area of the dense historic fabric of the old town of Cádiz, on the Atlantic coast of south western Spain.
Early fieldwork, historical and technological research led to meticulous documentation of this part of the city, and the site became understood as a shifting ground latent with the material remains of a Roman Circus. Ideas about porosity, typologies of entrances, the potency of the subterranean, excavation and the cultural role of spectacle have informed an urban strategy which literally and metaphorically reinforces the urban fabric. The architectural strategy is to precisely insert programmatic elements of El Ciné de las Torres which are held in mutual dependency while acting as support for the existing urban blocks. The new configuration of the cleared semi-public space is activated by film projection and public route. The material and spatial arrangement and language of the architectural proposal is inventive and develops a rich dialogue concerning weight, temporality and use.
AISLING SHANNON. GRADUATED: SCOTT SUTHERLAND SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE
The project brief called for the design of a hotel on a sloping site of great distinctiveness close to the Esplanade of the Historic Castle in Stirling.
Aisling developed her own brief for the site after undertaking a scholarly review of the context, place and nature of how we should make a building on such a site. Led by a deep rooted understanding of culture and history she proposes a design which learns from - and for - the site, blending new with old while reinforcing the eternal qualities of the place.
The design encompasses key moments in external and internal space that evoke memory and familiarity through proportion, atmosphere and tectonic expression. The outwardly cool and measured design response belies a depth and complexity of ideas that are revealed from formality to intimacy from the macro to the micro, in the site planning and linear expression of the ‘inhabited wall’, circulation and habitation patterns, the disposition of public and private space to the design of rooms, intimate places and thresholds. This ‘meaningful’ response is enforced with a knowledge and attention detail of how things are made.
“This boutique hotel sits within a wall at Stirling Castle. Thick concrete walls contain niches which offer intimate moments, and a sense of ownership. The design is solid and monolithic like the castle walls, becoming small-scale and vernacular to relate with the neighbouring old town buildings. The view is an event, not a constant. In-situ concrete walls are cast against textured wallpaper internally, offering a luxurious, tactile finish. The hotel seeks to improve a visitor’s experience of the Castle; the Esplanade, currently a car park, becomes a civic gathering space, contributing to a sense of arrival at Castle and hilltop.”
Aisling Shannon.
Images courtesy of The Royal Scottish Academy of Art & Architecture
The exhibition is accompanied by a full colour publication.
Many works will be available for purchase. The RSA is part of the Own Art scheme, offering interest-free credit for people to buy contemporary art and craft. For further details visit www.scottisharts.org.uk
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