Search

Sir Basil Spence, Glover & Ferguson, enjoyed a conspicuous presence on the Scottish architectural scene, undertaking a wide range of notable commissions.1 One field in which they became acknowledged as specialists was that of library design. This expertise was developed during the design process for their first such job, the University of Edinburgh's Main Library, which received a RIBA award (1968) and a Civic Trust Commendation (1969). It led to an interesting group of libraries executed during the 1960s and 1970s. In this paper, both the well-known and more obscure libraries and library projects of Spence, Glover & Ferguson are discussed.2 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers the main characteristics of the Scottish formal landscape, as established by Sir William Bruce. It considers Bruce's key contribution but also how his collaboration with Alexander Edward allowed the further development of the characteristics of the Scottish designed landscape, partly under the influence of France and also in relation to the notion of the Scottish Historical Landscape. It focuses on two case studies, Kinnaird Castle in Angus and Hopetoun House, proposing a new interpretation of the latter in particular. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Sir William Bruce's lifetime, the relationship between architecture and natural, experimental and mechanical philosophies - the so-called 'new sciences' - was a fundamental one.1 It was reflected in the presence of major architects in important European scientific institutions in the period: groups such as the Royal Society of London and the Académie des sciences in Paris.2 These organisations could count among their members Sir Christopher Wren, Robert Hooke, François Blondel and Claude Perrault, all of whom practised architecture alongside other intellectual pursuits that we would now identify as science. In Scotland, the situation was somewhat different due to the fact that the new science was never institutionalised here, as it was in England and France. Nonetheless, as this article will demonstrate, many of Scotland's more prominent late seventeenth-century intellectuals counted architecture among their interests. Additionally, proposals were made in Scotland for scientific groups that, had they got off the ground, would have almost certainly promoted architecture as an intellectual subject in their meetings. What follows is an attempt to reconstruct how Scottish intellectuals in this period conceived of architecture as an intellectual discipline and as a practice. Ultimately, this paper will conclude that their approach to architecture tended to differ from their English counterparts. Just as they conceived of the new sciences in a much more straightforwardly Baconian way than the London Royal Society, so too was their attitude to architecture informed by the general climate of utility and improvement in Scotland at the time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides a synopsis of some of the work of this Royal Master Mason, whose place in the Scottish architectural pantheon has sometimes been overlooked. Recent studies have shown him to have had almost an indispensible presence during the often tumultuous period of his career, paving the way for his better-known successors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Kinross has come to epitomise a defining moment in the development of Scottish domestic architecture, when the retrospective image of the tower-house finally submitted to the refinement and convenience of the compact, classical country house. This essay, which is based upon a close analysis of the aspirations and ambitions of Sir William Bruce's patrons, puts the case for an alternative hypothesis. The tower did not give way to the classical country house, as historians have proposed. Instead, both forms of architecture remained in demand throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, each appealing to different sections of noble society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Between 2009 and 2011, the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS) worked on a new study of Lochindorb Castle. This work has produced the first in-depth survey and contributed towards a new understanding of the ruinous site, located upon a small island on Lochindorb and previously little studied due to its remote and inaccessible location. At Inverlochy, RCAHMS carried out a detailed drawn survey of the castle in 1982 and this is complemented by a large number of archive items resulting from various studies and excavations at the site. In the light of new measured and photographic data being available for comparative work, this study aims to look afresh at the relationship between the two castles, to take a closer look at their form and function, and beyond this, establish how legitimate long-standing comparisons of the two castles remain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sir Basil Urwin Spence O.M., R.A., began his architectural career in Edinburgh in 1931 and was still designing at his untimely death in 1976. Throughout his life he maintained a strong link with Scotland and remained true to the ethos of his training at Edinburgh College of Art, namely that the practice of architecture was essentially an art and a craft. Never easily pigeon-holed, Spence's oeuvre was eclectic. In turns traditional and innovative, theatrical and intimate, his works always displayed his concerns for artistry, materials, craftsmanship, texture and colour. Best known for prestige projects such as Coventry Cathedral, the Rome Embassy and Sussex University, Spence's school designs, which formed a small, but significant, part of his output during the 1950s, are largely overlooked. This paper explores his particular architectural approach through the wide ranging styles of the eight schools designed in his Edinburgh and London offices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]