A few comments and observations on the challenges of bringing contemporary architecture into an organic medieval city - using Miralle's new Scottish Parliament as an example
3. Geology & sense of place The new architecture complements the organic nature of the medieval village plus the way in which the Edinburgh Castle up the road emerges from the rocks It succeeds brilliantly in this aim…
4. Scale & detail The challenge was to marry the intimate detail of the medieval city with the grand purpose of the Parliament building… Does it look like a block of townhouses? … the new building is organically fragmented
5. Strange iconography OK, and while on the subject, what does this repeated gun-shape mean? And why the bamboo picket fences?? I feel like there’s some in-joke that I’m missing
6. What were they thinking? The new Scottish Parliament is mostly successful BUT it has been condemned by the locals, largely because of the cost… Are Edinburgh’s City Planners just plain batty? However, there was no complaint about the unsightly white spikey thing hovering just behind the Scottish Parliament Majestic Arthur’s Seat Miralles Scottish Parliament
7. What were they thinking? Yes, Edinburgh’s City Planners should be shot They also allowed this corrugated iron railway roof to dominate the vista towards the magnificent medieval city
8. The Challenge… How do we design contemporary buildings within organic cityscapes?