National Museum of Rural Life Scotland : Information

Location: Kittochside, East Kilbride, Strathclyde, Scotland Architect: Page & Park Architects, Glasgow Museum of Scottish Country Life: image from Page & Park Architects National Museum of Rural Life, Kittochside, nr. East Kilbride Date built: 1999-2001 Designer: Page & Park Architects Contact: 0131 247 4377 National Museum of Rural Life Working Farm Experience Take in the sights, smells and sounds of a 1950s working farm at the National Museum of Rural Life, complete with dairy cows and sheep. Explore the work which took place in each season from ploughing fields to sowing seeds, hay making to harvesting. Award-Winning Musuem The award-winning museum building is open daily and includes a coffee shop and gift shop, a fascinating Georgian farmhouse, farmyard and stocked fields. Take a step back in time and explore rural life in Scotland in the past and discover how this has shaped the countryside as we now know it. A great day out for all the family with lots of things to do. A partnership between National Museums Scotland and the National Trust for Scotland. Museum of Scottish Country Life: image from Page & Park Architects Previously known as The Museum of Country Life An intriguing collection in a beguiling building. Most people will arrive at the National Museum of Rural Life by car no doubt, in which case they are greeted by a sombre barn-like facade with a simple bridge to the powerfrul entrance. The entry is guarded by huge symmetrical timber-boarded doors, and the bridge deals with the steep fall to the south. Materials inside are rustic in type and expression with two types of brick, dull grey concrete beams and purlins and timber block floors. Museum of Scottish Country Life: image from Page & Park Architects There is nothing flash about the National Museum of Rural Life building : the mature compositions will certainly appeal to many architects but may seem rather sedate to others. The spiral route though will surely captivate even the very young. With a variety of views out of the building and down to the main exhibits, you slowly approach your quarry: rows of tractors, ploughs and other farming implements and machines. The 'slabs' of timber forming the balustrade to the lower ramp slowly peel away in a pleasing way. Everywhere is restraint, no gimmicks, just matter-of-fact form, structure and space. Museum of Scottish Country Life: image from Page & Park Architects It's worth a walk around the National Museum of Rural Life exterior to see how the internal functions and spiral are expressed. The palette and restraint allow the building to lock into the landscape but still hold absolute supremacy. There is something of the Burrell here in the hard envelope, unrelenting to the rolls and folds of the land. The workaday materials - especially the timber walls - remind me of the Tramway; the detailing is sharp with a subtle hierarchy of finish and articulation. For example the sliding central 'tractor shed' timber door into the Atrium's lower floor varies subtley from the timber wall behind, quietly elevated in rank. Museum of Scottish Country Life: image from Page & Park Architects I - and others - got momentarily lost trying to re-emerge from the National Museum of Rural Life and the spaces are so homogeneous that it can be slightly disorientating. I didn't mind the extra steps, in fact it was good to explore a new route; although the building is rigourously crafted the circulation is fairly free-flowing. This building is a breath of fresh air: intelligent, thoughtful architecture out in the country. Museum of Scottish Country Life: image from Page & Park Architects Museum of Country Life architects : Page & Park, Glasgow Scottish Architecture : best scottish buildings of the last three decades As well as the The Museum of Country Life, Page & Park Architects have completed other key projects in and around Glasgow:- Italian Centre Lomond Shores Imax Another Scottish building by Page & Park Architects: Maggies Inverness Museum of Scotland Kelvingrove Museum photo : David Barbour / BDP Museum of Country Life Opening Times: Daily 10am - 5pm Please check with the operators, details correct in late 2005 Adult £4 Conc £3 Children 12 and under free NMS Members and NTS Members free (charge for special events) Address: Museum of Scottish Country Life, Wester Kittochside, Philipshill Road, off Stewartfield Way, East Kilbride G76 9HR Tel: 0131 247 4377