October 9 2018

The City of Dundee has long labored under the clichés of jute, jam and journalism but in turning east to Japan, for its V&A Museum the city has not just alighted on a new alliteration but a new sense of internationalism. We look at the wider waterfront ramifications of this new landmark.

The V&A Dundee isn’t the only summer celebration of home-grown design, with the Scottish Design Awards also showcasing the cream of the current creative crop. To bring home the quality and quantity of award-winning work we’ve gathered together all the big winners.

One of the most significant of these is The Macallan Distillery & Visitor Experience by Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners. One of the largest single private sector investments in recent years it has not only furnished a venerable brand with a modern-day icon but embraced the innovative use of timber.

Peter Wilson addresses this approach in detail and also brings us up to speed with the timber technology behind Multiply, the first structure in Britain to be built using CLT it is being touted as a potential solution to the UK’s housing crisis.

For every two steps forward it can sometimes seem as though we take one step back however as Mark Chalmers finds upon surveying the ruins of the Glasgow School of Art. We also investigate the glacial progress in achieving gender equality in architecture. It is a goal everyone shares but which has lacked leadership thus far.

Now a new generation of women are forcing the issue. We hope everyone reading will do all that they can to help them.

Read all this and more in the autumn edition of Urban Realm.

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