In September 2010 we were approached by Edinburgh City Council to see if we would be interested in designing a small meeting hut for a new allotment being proposed along the south-west edge of Mackenzie Place, Stockbridge.

 

The building is located at the junction of Mackenzie Place and St Bernards Bridge in the Stockbridge area of Edinburgh (a conservation area and is also on the edge of the designated World Heritage Area). Our Client, the City of Edinburgh Council, approached us because they felt that the significance of the site, and its relative ‘exposure’ within the historic fabric of the city necessitated a building that would be of the highest design aspirations, commensurate with the historic surroundings.

 

The proposal is conceived as a Gatehouse to the allotment. It is wedge-shaped in plan to take up the irregular nature of the site and intentionally prominent to signify the entrance as one approaches along Mackenzie Place (or from over St Bernards Bridge). 

 

It is, in the grand tradition of gatehouses, both modest in size but monumental in scale. 

 

Shortlisted for AJ Small Buildings Awards 2014