Date: 24 December 07
Author: Caroline Ednie, Web Editor
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Six Cities Design Festival
May 07
The six cities of Scotland - Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness and Stirling - hosted the country’s first nationwide international design festival, promoting and celebrating Scottish design. The Six Cities Design Festival, described as “UK’s first comprehensive creative Biennale”, delivered a vibrant three week programme of public events over May and June. In addition to a series of major exhibitions, including a contemporary Scottish Design showcase at The Lighthouse, the three week festival of design also featured public events, walks, talks and tours.
Central to the aims of the Six Cities Design Festival, which received a £3 million (gross) investment from the Scottish Executive, was the desire to raise awareness of the vital role of design and creativity in enabling Scottish businesses to compete at the highest level internationally; to create a public platform for Scottish design and designers; to inspire new generations of designers; to engage the public and raise awareness of the benefits of good design from products to systems, to the built environment.
With its high public profile and over 300,000 participants, the Six Cities Design Festival clearly demonstrated that design has a key role to play in everyday life and everyday business. Plans are currently afoot for another national design festival in 2010.
http://www.sixcities.com
Launch of ‘Building our Legacy’, a new architecture policy for Scotland
February 07
Six years after the Scottish Executive launched its first ‘Policy on Architecture for Scotland’, a new architecture policy document, ‘Building Our Legacy: Statement on Scotland’s Architecture Policy 2007’ was unveiled at The Lighthouse in February. Arriving in the wake of ‘Scotland’s Culture’, the Executive's response to the Cultural Commission's review of Culture in Scotland, which stated a commitment to a renewed and strengthened architecture policy statement, the new policy document is essentially the culmination of an extensive public consultation process.
Ian Gilzean, Chief Architect at the Scottish Government’s Architecture Policy Unit spoke exclusively to scottisharchitecture.com about why Scotland needs another architecture policy: Read the interview.
SHIFTS
August 07
During the course of a three day workshop four international project teams, led by the Scottish architecture practices Cadell2, Collective Architecture, GRAS and vD&B, developed a series of scenarios speculating on shifts and transformations relating to Scotland’s Central Belt in the years up to 2057. The visions that emerged form the basis of SHIFTS a major touring exhibition which opened at The Lighthouse in August.
The four propositions involve ideas such as: the transformation of the M8 into a major tourist attraction running through Scotland's Central Forest; the creation of a new canal, connecting the west and the east coast, wide enough to carry a floating opera house or a football stadium; a decentralisation of political and economic power, producing local decision-making structures that support local identity, culture and production; and an image of Scotland relying only on hydro and wind power, and being Europe's main exporter of green energy.
An associated publication featuring specially commissioned pieces from leading architectural commentators and Scottish writers including Louise Welsh, Alan Bisset, and Pat Kane was published in September.
http://www.scottisharchitecture.com/shifts
Gillespie Kidd & Coia Exhibition
November 07
Andy MacMillan and Isi Metzstein made a very particular contribution to post-war British architecture, and remain Scotland’s greatest living architects. The Lighthouse, in partnership with The Glasgow School of Art, brought together a team of leading architects, artists, writers and film makers to create ‘Gillespie Kidd & Coia: Architecture 1956-87’, a major survey of their work looking at the buildings they designed during their years at the helm of the Gillespie, Kidd & Coia, and their legacy both in Scotland and beyond.
The comprehensive GKC archive, gifted to The Glasgow School of Art in 2005, forms not only the basis of the major exhibition ‘Gillespie Kidd & Coia: Architecture 1956-87’, currently featuring at The Lighthouse until 10 February 2008; but also a book, edited by architectural writer, Johnny Rodger; and two films by Isi Metzstein’s son Saul. Work has also been undertaken to catalogue the archive and digitise aspects of it opening it up as a resource to academics, the profession and the public. www.gillespiekiddandcoia.com will go live in spring 2008.
In June, Gillespie, Kidd and Coia's St Peter's College, Cardross, widely considered as a masterpiece of post-war Modern architecture - and now in a ruined state - was included on the World Monuments Fund's watch list for 2008. The iconic Scottish building joins treasures such as the cultural sites of Iraq; the St Petersburg skyline in Russia; and Machu Picchu, Peru amongst the world's most endangered cultural heritage sites.
Two iconic Scots buildings added to World Monuments Fund Watch List.
2014 Commonwealth Games, Glasgow
November 07
The announcement in November that Glasgow will host the 2014 Commonwealth Games signalled a significant step in the city’s regeneration.
The biggest new-build element planned is the £245m Athletes’ Village, which has been masterplanned by RMJM’s team in Glasgow. The masterplan site covers approximately 40 hectares and is located in Dalmarnock in the East End of the City. The scheme aims to tackle the regeneration of one of the City's most deprived and socially problematic areas, to create a successful and exciting Games Village accommodating over 7,000 athletes in more than 1,000 new permanent housing units. Facilities such as landscaped areas, an international zone, a transport hub and a hotel also form part of the Village masterplan.
2014 Commonwealth Games Athletes Village masterplan
The Games is also set to see the creation of a new £76m National Indoor Sports Arena and Velodrome designed by 3DReid and a £112m Entertainments Arena by Foster and Partners. A £12.5m second swimming pool and auditorium at Tollcross Park Aquatics Centre, and the £3m redevelopment of Glasgow Green are also planned. According to the bid document, £228m of the village’s cost is to be met by the private sector. It is understood that a PPP is likely.
National Indoor Sports Arena and Velodrome
Highland Housing Fair
June 07
The Highland Housing Fair competition, which aims to raise standards in innovative and sustainable housing design, announced its winners in June. (http://www.highlandhousingfair.com/design-competition.html)
The housing design competition, which is Scotland’s first housing fair, was run under the auspices of the Royal Incorporation of Architects of Scotland (RIAS).
The winning designs will be developed into a 55 home (27 plot) community at Balvonie on the southern fringe of Inverness. A diverse range of housing types will be on offer on the 5.5 hectare (13.5 acre) site, with more than a third of the units designated for affordable housing.
The Fair will culminate in the summer of 2009 with the completed homes forming the centrepiece of a month-long exhibition. At the end of the Fair, the homes will be sold or rented at market value by their respective plot developers.
The Highland Housing Fair will become a biennial event in a different Highland location each time, with the next fair taking place in 2011.
The Lighthouse Achievement Award 2007
Nov 07
Glasgow-based practice Elder and Cannon Architects were this year’s winners of The Lighthouse Achievement Award. Presented annually to an individual or organisation that has made an outstanding contribution to the promotion of architecture and the built environment, the Achievement Award was this year presented to a practice that has shown ‘a consistent and persistent commitment to quality, irrespective of scale or status of project.’
“Over the years Elder and Cannon have shown a continuing ability to produce new ideas and new takes on the brief,” said Nick Barley, Director of The Lighthouse. “The Achievement Award recognises this alongside their commitment to nurturing new talent both within the practice and through their teaching.”
Following a keynote lecture by Bob Allies of Allies and Morrison, the Award was presented, at Glasgow's Oran Mor, by Andy McMillan, Emeritus Professor at the Mackintosh School of Architecture. Previous winners of the Achievement Award include architect collective GLAS and film-maker Murray Grigor.
The Achievement Award is part of ACCESS to Architecture, a programme of events and initiatives aligned to the Scottish Government’s Policy on Architecture.
Read a profile of Elder and Cannon Architects
Read an interview with Bob Allies
Scotland International
A number of Scottish practices were conspicuous in the international architectural arena this year. Edinburgh based Sutherland Hussey Architects were awarded first prize in the international competition for the design of the new City Museum for Chengdu, Sichuan, China.
Glasgow based NORD, who opened their new Dublin office in September, won an open international competition to design the new headquarters building for Wexford County Council. The project is due to go on site in February 2008. NORD also featured (alongside Carmody Groarke, Surface, Project Orange and Brisac Gonzalez and John McAslan + Partners) in the shortlist to design the £10m British Pavilion for the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai. Edinburgh based draw architects (and team members Graven Images, Arup, dcmstudios and the Botanical Society of Scotland) also featured on the shortlist of six (narrowed down from 47 entrants) to develop conceptual ideas for a 6000m2 site which will promote the best of British talent and creativity during the Expo.
Draw architects and NORD exhibited at V&A
International architects were also conspicuous in the Scottish arena. Work began in November on the new Riverside Museum by Zaha Hadid Architects on the banks of the Clyde. The new £74 million structure, which is due to open in 2009, will replace the hugely popular but outdated Transport Museum behind Glasgow’s Kelvin Hall. Hadid’s 2006 Maggie’s Centre in Kirkcaldy, the architect’s first UK building, was also shortlisted for this year’s Andrew Doolan Building of the Year Award.
Fife Maggie's Cancer Care Centre
The new BBC HQ at Glasgow’s Pacific Quay by 2007 Stirling Prize winner David Chipperfield was completed in the summer. The 34,000 sq m digital centre incorporates three key elements - digital broadcasting studios, offices and substantial public areas – and boasts the UK's most advanced broadcast studios and production facilities. The Guardian described the new building as “one of the most remarkable, and hopefully influential, new workplaces in Britain.”
Scottish Architectural Awards 2007
Nov 07
The RIAS Andrew Doolan Best Building in Scotland Award 2007 was presented to Reiach and Hall Architects’ Pier Arts Centre in Orkney. One of seven buildings short-listed for the UK’s largest architecture prize, and one of two projects submitted by the Edinburgh architectural practice, The Pier Arts Centre, situated in the Orkney town of Stromness, was commended by the judges for its “seemingly effortless way in which the new gallery has been settled in beside its neighbours as an integral part of the townscape.”
(Building and Places - Pier Arts Centre)
Elsewhere at key architectural award events, the Glasgow Institute of Architects Supreme Award 2007 was awarded to Castlemilk Stables Block, Glasgow, designed by Elder & Cannon Architects (Buildings and Places - Castlemilk House Stables Block)
Building of the Year at the 2007 Edinburgh Architectural Association (EAA) Award was presented to the Scottish Storytelling Centre on the Royal Mile, Edinburgh by Malcolm Fraser Architects. The Scottish Storytelling Centre was also awarded a RIBA Award as was the Knox House, Edinburgh by Richard Murphy Architects. Gareth Hoskins Architects ‘The Bridge’ arts centre and community library in Easterhouse received a RIBA National as well as a regional Award (Buildings and Places - The Bridge)
The Saltire Awards housing panel announced the winners of this year’s housing design awards as: St Vincent Place, Edinburgh by Reiach and Hall and Oberlanders Architects; Upper Strand, Granton Waterfront, Edinburgh by Reiach and Hall and Elder and Cannon; The Cottages, Silverhills, Rosneath by Anderson Bell Christie http://www.scottisharchitecture.com/article/view/Silverhills
Sir Basil Spence Centenary
Sir Basil Spence (1907-76) was arguably the most publicly celebrated British architect of the 20th century, as well as one of the most prolific. 2007 marked the centenary of Sir Basil Spence's birth and to celebrate this, The Lighthouse, RCAHMS, and the National Galleries of Scotland worked together to create a range of exhibitions, events and web resources which celebrate Spence's life and work.
A major exhibition 'Back to the Future: Sir Basil Spence 1907-1976 opened at the Dean Gallery in Edinburgh to huge critical acclaim in October. The exhibition considers Spence's extraordinary career which spanned a time of great social change within Britain and features original archive material, much of which has never been exhibited before. This can be seen until 10th February 2008.
Meanwhile, the current touring exhibition ‘Sir Basil Spence: Celebration of a Modern Architect’ combines content from the Sir Basil Spence Archive with recollections from some people who have lived and worked in his buildings to provide a glimpse into Spence’s career and its place in twentieth century British architecture.
To draw together the work of the Sir Basil Spence Archive Project as a whole, a website was designed and is currently live at www.basilspence.org.uk
The Life and Work of Basil Spence - Dr Miles Glendinning looks at the career of the prolific and publicly celebrated British architect.
ENDS
