Watkin Jones progress Abeyhill student residences
February 10 2015
Watkin Jones Group are progressing their latest student residential build with the delivery of 450 bed spaces at Abbeyhill, Edinburgh, the latest in a series of nationwide collaborations with Manson Architects.Intended to repair a fractured streetscape in the vicinity the scheme is conceived as a crescent block bordering Abbeymount and a neighbouring L-shaped block bordering Abbeyhill with the creation of a ‘Georgian-style basement condition’ around the site.
In their design statement Manson wrote: “The desire is to create a positive contrast between the inner (courtyard) facades and the outer (street) facades. Through use of a limited palette of materials the intention is to create a restrained and elegant building which rests comfortably as a contemporary addition to the area.”
This limited palette will consist of buff brickwork and pale cast-stone with areas of timber panel cladding with new planting and wider pavements introduced to improve the pedestrian environment.
Marketing epithets such as 'Right now you're standing outside. So you're outstanding' have backfired on surrounding billboards
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Read previous: Gareth Hoskins details Royal High School vision
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I'm not even sure a planner has made it through a full one without tossing it aside, muttering some expletives about bloody architects. I've seen some truly woeful buildings waxed over lyrically like they were designed by Adolf Loos or Frank Lloyd Wright.
It's just a means to an end. Say it'll be great, get planning and disregard anything you wrote at Stage D. Has anyone ever asked a contractor on-site if he has seen the design statement that describes what he is actually creating?
So what are there use?