Edinburgh

[Paul Clerkin]

Heading over there at the end of the month for a day or three... any recommendations of must-see buildings..... going to visit the Benson Forsyth museum building.....

[RSJ]

Scottish Poetry Library by Malcolm Fraser, tucked away in an alley towards the bottom of the Royal Mile, close to the new parliament building site at Holyrood...

...Michael Hopkins' "Dynamic Earth" centre, also at Holyrood...

...Various Richard Murphy housing projects dotted around (one an infill site on the Royal Mile near the Fraser building), and his Fruitmarket Gallery behind Waverley Station...

...yes of course the Museum of Scotland - treat yourself to a meal in the rooftop restaurant there...

...the somewhat eccentric "Hub" in the old General Assembly building (looks like a church) just below the Castle on the Royal Mile. Colourful throwback stuff by Ben Tindall. This is the official cenre for the Edinburgh Festival, so I don't know how open it is this time of year....

...and if you are an aficionado of better business-park architecture, Edinburgh Park, out near the airport, is masterplanned by Richard Meier and has one or two good buildings, notably Alexander Graham Bell House by Bennetts Associates, reasonably near the entrance...

[MG]

Get the Ellipsis guide to recent architecture in Edinburgh.

[Fiachra]

The Museum of Scotland, not too far off the Royal Mile, the new extention off,
must see, one of the most important buildings built in the UK for many years in my opinion, truly excellent, make sure you leave a couple of hours to enjoy it.

[daniel]

The Forth bridge.

trains leave fairly regularly - only 1/2 hour away from city centre. Good way to see it is to take train to North Queensferry crossing over the rail bridge, then walk back over the suspension bridge, have a pint in pub in South Queensferry while your at it and then get the train back to Waverly Station.

[RSJ]

And there's that vast new dockside development in Leith (short taxi/bus from centre) by Conran Associates. Ocean Port Terminal. Ex-Royal Yacht Britannia tied up alongside. Very Conran mix of shops, restaurants etc...

[aruan o' neill]

You could also take a look at Dancebase in the Grassmarket, by Malcolm Fraser Architects. However, although Edinburgh architects are trying hard, there's a lot of opposition to experiment at the moment in the city and, for my money, the best buildings are the older ones. Try to leave a little time to go up the Scott Monument (designed by a chippie who won a competition, looks like a Victorian rocket launcher), the University Quadrangle on South Bridge by Robert Adam and climb Calton Hill and Arthur's Seat to inspect the town planning.

[RSJ]

What's Dancebase like?

[aruan o' neill]

Spatially it's interesting and, for Edinburgh, it's a bit of a braveheart building, but the workmanship is awful, worse than the museum of scotland extension, and there's something about it that doesn't quite hang together. It has a feeling of a budget being pushed way too far.

[proun]

Try the Visitor Centre for the Scottish Parliament, maps progress of surely Edinburgh's highest profile building internationally. Details on www.edinburgharchitecture.co.uk. The Ocean Terminal was actually designed by CDP (latterly Conran & Partners) and implemented by Keppie and is a monster of a building; if you like quality architecture keep clear of Leith docks.

[aruan o' neill]

The man in charge of the design of the Scottish Parliament building at Holyrood is a sewage engineer. He's been in charge from the very beginning, but it has only recently become official. His last big project was the Scottish Office at Victoria Quay (requires a trip to Leith).

[quirkey]

Try this link... guides to new architecture in edinburgh etc http://www.edinburgharchitecture.co.uk/index.html
You'll need at least a week to go see any reasonable amount of the stuff.

[Heather]

The Point Hotel by Andrew Doolan architects on Bread Street (behind the Usher Hall) is worth a look, it's polite and unassuming, quietly original.

[RSJ]

So what's the feedback, Paul? Was Edinburgh the Athens of the North or the Trondheim of the South?