Johnny Rodger, Book, Scotland, Scottish Capital City Buildings, Contemporary Projects

Edinburgh Architecture Guide

Lothian Buildings Book: Edinburgh Guidebook on the Built Environment

post updated 2 December 2023

Please note prices vary from week-to-week

Edinburgh

Edinburgh book

Author: Johnny Rodger

£10

2001, Ellipsis London Ltd, 320pp, paperback

Edinburgh Architectural Guide

The latest book to describe Edinburgh architecture and the only one that’s really up-to-date, at time of writing, on the built environment in the Scottish capital city: with some incisive comments – a good read

Edinburgh Architecture Guide.

It would be easy to assume that the large amount of building works and new construction in Edinburgh is a consequence of the siting of the new Scottish seat of government, tagged as a ‘pretendy Parliament’ by Scottish stage personality Billy Connolly.

But factors more mundane than the urgings of the ‘democratic spirit’ can explain this spate of new building: in particular Edinburgh’s position as the fourth biggest financial center in Europe; the incidence of developer rather than open competitions; the invitation extended to the American modernist architect Richard Meier to come up with a masterplan for the design of the Edinburgh Park business center; and Edinburgh’s 1970s love-affair with the motor-car, the resultant fractured city and early new-millennium ambivalence about private/public transport.

Around 100 entries in this book give a framework for understanding what all this means for Edinburgh’s built environment and for reading recent architectural design in the city. The new Scottish Parliament building is located in Edinburgh and the city is experiencing a mass of new construction.

Johnny Rodger’s book offers concise, reviews of all the significant recent buildings and on-site developments. A critical celebration of Edinburgh’s current architectural renaissance. 130 b/w photos.

Also by Johnny Rodger:

Contemporary Glasgow: the Architecture of the 1990s

Glasgow Architecture Books