The Recap: A weekly update from Architecture and Design Scotland

Welcome to the Recap - a short weekly update blog from Architecture and Design Scotland. This is based on our internal blog that is shared with staff and board members on Fridays. This blog combines weeks ending 22 November.

On Tuesday, we published a blog from our Principal Design Officer Morag Bain, on the how a grassroots community project transformed a neglected space in Glasgow's west end into a thriving hub.

"Woodlands has social and ethnic diversity, so there was an awareness of both the history and the issues in the area. Conversations began 12 years ago, with volunteers who helped to clear the area.  Many people were involved – the community, architecture students, designers. From making with pallets, the space has evolved into a thriving community garden and a community building with social and environmental impact. 

With a diverse programme of events and activities, Woodlands is where you go if you want to grow flowers and vegetables, get your bike fixed, meet new mums, eat, hear music or have a chat."

Read the blog here.

This week, several of our colleagues attended and participated in this years’ Learning Places Scotland Conference at the SEC in Glasgow. The theme for this year’s event was ‘Maximising opportunities across the learning estate’. 

On Tuesday evening, our Director of Design Heather Claridge attended the Learning Places Scotland Awards Dinner. As well as presenting an award herself, Heather was delighted to report that our collaborative Outdoor Learning Hub project with Queen Margaret University won the ‘Inspiring Learning Spaces’ award – a great achievement given the stiff competition within that category from a number of prestigious projects, including the Edinburgh Futures Institute.

On Wednesday, our Principal Designer Lesley Riddell Robertson led our panel – chaired by Heather – entitled ‘Inclusive design and place-based thinking – lessons learned from the Craighalbert Centre’. Lesley opened the session by giving some background to our aims and objectives for the project. Following this, Senior Education Officer at Education Scotland Fran Foreman, who is policy lead for inclusion and areas of additional support – including accessibility, dyslexia and autism – at Education Scotland, set the wider landscape for us and talked more about the bigger picture. 

After Fran, was Alison Philipps – Head of Quality, Partnerships and Innovation at The Craighalbert Centre – who has worked in mainstream, specialist and ‘inclusive’ early learning and childcare settings in both England and Scotland since the 1980’s. Alison spoke about the Craighalbert Centre’s strategic approach and the need for this type of project. Finally, Malcolm Fraser, co-founder of Fraser/Livingstone Architects – who worked with us on the project for the Craighalbert Centre – talked through the concept and approach for the project. Following the presentations there was a panel discussion centered around questions from the audience.

On Tuesday, our Principal Landscape Architect Danny McKendry attended the latest meeting of the executive committee of Scotland’s Landscape Alliance. The Alliance is now seeking endorsement/support of the new Landscape Charter. Key priorities for the committee are: noting support provided to date, and setting out a briefing plan for the Scottish Government. Our event Place Forum 3: Thinking Big, Thinking Beyond was acknowledged as providing good examples.

On Thursday evening, a group of our colleagues travelled to Dundee to attend the preview of the exhibition A Fragile Correspondence at V&A Dundee.

A Fragile Correspondence, Scotland's exhibition from the 18th Venice Architecture Biennale, was commissioned by the Scotland + Venice partnership (TBC) and curated by a creative team consisting of the Architecture Fringe, -ism magazine, and /other.

From the forests around Loch Ness, to the seashore of the Orkney archipelago and the industrialised remnants of the Ravenscraig steelworks, the exhibition is a journey through three Scottish landscapes across the Highlands, Islands and Lowlands, exploring whether a deeper relationship between land and languages can help architecture be more attuned to its environment.

The exhibition will remain open at V&A Dundee until Spring 2025. Read our blog about the opening here.

Back in October, Green Action Trust (GAT) and Institute of Civil Engineers (ICE) hosted a roundtable discussion on nature-based solutions and the Central Scotland Green Network’s (CSGN) role and potential to scale these solutions. 

This week, Danny McKendry joined the first meeting of a follow up, short life working group which has an interest in developing the discussion into collaborative action and the sharing of data, insight and case study examples.

Earlier in November, our Chief Executive Jim MacDonald attended the Design for Planet 2024 Festival in Manchester. On Friday, Jim published his reflections and key takeaways from the event. 

"Reflecting on the takeaways for architecture and design here in Scotland, two things stood out. Firstly, the challenges we face – design skills being undervalued, user voices not being heard, systems thwarting ambition to do good – are shared across the wider design sector and beyond. Secondly, the participants in the room and worldwide represent an incredibly generous network, sharing support, learning, and inspiration."

Read the blog here.