January 2003

Historic Scottish Architecture - Castles in Glasgow area Cowgate-South Bridge Fire Ideas Competition www.southbridge.org.uk international competition by: inigo media + www.edinburgharchitecture.co.uk Rosslyn Chapel Keppie Launch New Website Current Projects Wilson Street Caledonian House Broomielaw Boardroom Glasgow On Site “Glasgow will become the "largest construction site in Europe" and the "Berlin of the next decade", according to a glowing new report which reveals a vision of optimism for the future of Scotland’s largest city”. 21.01.03 Watson Street warehouse “So it was last week when Glasgow City Council decided to pull down a keynote structure built by Alexander Greek Thomson in the 1870s….The last remaining Watson Street Warehouse, in the city’s Trongate, was widely regarded as one of Thomson’s great commercial designs, representing an important example of the architect’s late work”. 26.01.03 Wolfson Medical School images by gavin fraser Wolfson - University of Glasgow opened on University Avenue Autumn 2002 The inside of the building is cool and predominantly white, certainly at ground level in the glass-roofed central atrium which is bathed in daylight that in turn is reflected back off the matt white limestone floor. Designed by the Edinburgh-based practice Reiach and Hall Architects, who won the commission following a competition in 1999 19.10.02 East Renfrewshire Council Offices image by gavin fraser Barrhead 16.01.03 Sligo GM+AD Architects first project outside the UK. It's a residential and retail project in Sligo, Eire which the architects plan to have in for planning approval at the end of February: 17 split level flats and single bed flats including the refurbishment and conversion of a grade A listed property. small scale retail premises on the ground floor, reached through a pend in the listed property. 16.01.03 Mitchell Street Proposed residential development in Mitchell Street for the Burrell Company by Gordon Murray + Alan Dunlop Architects. There are two phases to the project - phase one is a new build on the site of the existing "all women" gym and provides 32 flats and 4 penthouse apartments and was submitted for planning at the end of 2002. Phase two is refurbishment of two grade B listed buildings into loft style apartments and will follow on completion of the new build. Ground floor and basement floors are retail / commercial units. 12.01.03 Gordon Murray on the Royal Mile Edinburgh "Alexander Stoddart (Letters, 18 December) is correct that "contemporary" is no longer acceptable in intelligent discourse, certainly not in Edinburgh, judging by the post-conflagration Cowgate correspondence". Letters Welcome Dear Sir, My suggestion is not that Scottish architecture harks back to a never-never land of castles and crow step cables, I am just a member of the (growing non) silent majority in this country who stands aghast at these modern bulidings that look very like there 50'-70's forebears and are therefore making the same mistakes. Concrete and flat roofs work in Tel-Aviv but not Glasgow due to the climate differences. I am not against modern architecture, I like La Defense in Paris, although La Tour Montparnasse would look better if it was lined up better with the Trocadero, the Eiffel tower and the champs de mars. I read that architects are in uproar over the rebuilding of Berlin Palace in Berlin, although it will give a historical foundation to that area. The problem seems to be that architects are afraid of the past. But using materials and designs of the local area normally works well. Too many buildings are built with disregard of the local area, for example the two local authority buildings in Inverness water front next to the castle, the architect couls not have looked at the area he was planning for thought of those designs. I am not suggesting recreations of the past, but to pro spice res spice, looking forward looking back. I have no problem with mixing the two, sensibly. St.Andrews cathederal in Glasgow works well with the mirrored galss and steel building beside it. I saw a ruined castle in France modernised by the addition of mirrored glass in the old window slits and it works well against the aged sandstone. Yours Stephen J Clarke, Bsc(hons) M.Litt PhD