Stromness leads the way

Way to go Stromness!


It has just been announced that Malcolm Fraser Architects have won a competition for the redevelopment of Stromness pierhead (images above). The Orkney Islands Council held an RIAS competition which led to an impressive shortlist of Malcom Fraser Architects, Greame Massie Architects and Reich & Hall Architects (Reich & Hall are also responsible for the recently completed and acclaimed Pier Arts Centre, also in Stromness). It just shows what a difference a visionary council can make- to hold a competition such as this raises the standard, these good guys are interested in making places, they investigate the fabric of a place and let it inform their design. Public architecture is arguably the most important because it is there to serve us and to improve the lives of the everyday people- all to often public buildings are not actually the result of a competitive bid but are handed to the architects who are close at hand and who have a long standing comfortable relationship with the client.

And it does not stop there in the North- Shetland seems to be hot on the heels of Orkney. Gareth Hoskins Architects won a competition a couple of years ago for a new Cinema and Music Venue in Lerwick, which is known as The Lareel. This project has just received lottery funding and so is planned to start onsite this year. The Shetland Museum and Archives in Lerwick, designed by BDP architects is now open to the public.


Above: Cinema & Music Venue, Lerwick by Gareth Hoskins Architects


Above: Shetland Museum & Archives, Lerwick by BDP Architects

It's hard not to compare this to Inverness. To give the team at Inverness their due, i think that the street-scape works are fantastic and will improve the street-life significantly however the recent competitions i think lacked the rigorous professionalism that the RIAS would have offered. Both the competitions for the Victorian Market canopies and the re-imagining of the facade of Ramada Jarvis attracted entries from far and wide it seems but neither were really aimed at architects. A new canopy and the facade of a building are both commissions that are relevant to our profession and i think that its disappointing that was overlooked.

It is fantastic to think that a small archipelago like Orkney should have the vision to commission a competition such as this purposefully to attract architects of high caliber. People would imagine a rural island on the North of Scotland to be inward looking and backward but ironically they seem to be leading the way. Lets hope that the Highland Council can learn from them.