Building an international reputation

Perhaps due to the number of house and garden makeover programmes on television, more and more Scots are showing some passion about the buildings and architecture which surround us. It is not only renovations to owned properties that have fuelled this interest in architecture however. Since the 1990s, lottery funding has contributed to the creation of some excellent cultural buildings in Scotland which have also captured the public's interest; Dundee Contemporary Arts has had huge success in increasing the number of visitors from both home and abroad as has the Museum of Scotland designed by Benson & Forsyth.

In October 2001, the Scottish Government published "A Policy on Architecture for Scotland" and we became the first part of the UK to commit ourselves to a formal policy on architecture; a policy with a long-term focus. Part of this is educative - engendering an interest in historic and contemporary architecture from an early age and nurturing this interest. It also aims to raise awareness of the value of good designs in the built environment and to encourage public interest and involvement in built environmental issues. Both the Museum of Scotland and the Scottish Parliament buildings provided the public with opportunities to view the buildings under construction and participants far exceeded expectations. And the establishment in April 2005 of a new independent champion for good architecture and design in Scotland's built environment, Architecture and Design Scotland, aims to inspire better quality in design and architecture in the public and private sectors so that Scotland's built environment contributes in a positive way to our quality of life and our built heritage.

Champion of design

All of this should be good news for Dr Charles Jencks, long time resident in Scotland, and the man recognised as first to define post-modernism in architecture. Jencks recently an honorary degree from the University of Glasgow to recognise his work as a land artist and architectural historian, as well as the Maggie Cancer Care Centres which he and his wife established. These were designed as intimate buildings, using design as a means of helping sufferers manage their fears as much as their illness.

Other events suggest that our interest in our buildings, both past and present, is growing. The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS) is responsible for recording, interpreting and collecting information about the built environment. Its recent 5 year Scottish Architects Papers Project has been a massive exercise in cataloguing, conserving and making available some 200,000 architects' drawings. This is just one of the archives available to view online through the website.

Canmore the 'Computer Application for National Monuments Record Enquiries' is the Commission's online database which was launched in 1998. It was the first major dataset of its kind to be available over the Internet. It is more than a website, it is a real 'goldmine' of information about Scottish cultural heritage, which provides access to a huge catalogue of data which include archaeological sites, ancient monuments and listed buildings, Scottish Natural Heritage designed landscapes and gardens information, vertical aerial photographs as well as drawings, photographs and other images.

Prize winning Parliament

Interest in Scotland's buildings is not confined to those living in Scotland, of course. In 2005 the Scottish Parliament Building was awarded Spain's major architectural prize, known as the 'Premio de Arquitectura', by the VIII Biennial of Spanish Architecture. At the award ceremony it was noted that "the Holyrood complex changes our conception of a Parliament building, following the founding principles of the institution itself: openness, accountability, the sharing of power and equal opportunities. Consequently, it looks like nothing we have known so far. Holyrood is not a building, it is an environment. It merges with the Scottish landscape, its iconography, its urban context and its history, in an explosion of events and joy." Very Latin!

The building was also a finalist in the 2005 Mies van der Rohe European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture, and was listed as one of Europe's 'works of exceptional quality'. Since then, the building has won the Architecture Grand Prix, which is the main prize at the Scottish Design Awards, where it was also named the Best Publicly Funded Building.