Galleries Competition, Princes St, Edinburgh

Princes St Competition

Scottish Urban Development Proposal – for EDI in Edinburgh

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Princes St Galleries Competition

Editorial – October 2002

Galleries competition

A busy month just passed with the fuss over the Galleries competition and the Haymarket site. Recriminations still seem to be flairing all around us but at least the mood at the Point for the RIAS Award was lighter. By the evening at the opening of Malcolm’s Park Rangers the mood could even be described as heady, balmy (but not for all, especially those not attending of course).

But seriously, the controversy and the Award have sucked in some attention from outside Scotland and this is what we want is it not? Some would argue that strategies could have been better planned and that attention is not everything, even that the episode is shameful to our nation. Time will tell but the mood at the Award announcement was upbeat not smug, positive instead of divisively elitist.

I have argued in the past that we should not get blown away with the glittering jewels, the high-profile buildings and forget the tawdry encircling ring. Don’t all cities wrestle with this problem? Maybe we just notice it all the more because of the centre’s poetic beauty but the dulled metal that encloses the much-discussed rock corrupts the joys of the jewel. Opposite Meadowbank Stadium is a run of dross, cheap low-rise burbitecture, incohesive and out-of-place: at least Las Vegas has the sun to add lustre to tack, but here in Edinburgh the flotsam just can’t inspire an iota of excitement.

Glasgow Architecture

Johnny Rodger has written an excellent introduction which went online on the launch day of glasgowarchitecture.co.uk. The Tours went online the same day. This was an informal event with many models of interesting & mostly current Glasgow projects on show and speeches by the acclaimed filmmaker Murray Grigor and the writer & teacher Johnny Rodger.

Website
The homepage and news pages have been streamlined.

I receive so much correspondence – ALL images should go to [email protected], details at top of news – but can’t publish any unless marked ‘for publication’: letters most welcome.

Glasgow Offices

Glasgow Transport Museum

photograph : Alan McAteer

Buildings / photos for the Galleries Competition Architecture pages welcome: info(at)glasgowarchitecture.co.uk

Galleries Competition

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