In July 1998, the design for a new Scottish Parliament building was chosen. Construction began the following June.
Scotland hadn’t previously had its own parliament for almost 300 years.
Many new modern buildings are controversial & over time those buildings tend to become iconic…or at least instantly recognisable. One of the most identifiable aspects of the Scottish Parliament building is the set of windows. The design of these is said to be inspired by “The Skating Minister” by Henry Raeburn, a painting which has appeared in a previous blog.
Sadly, architect Enric Miralles (1955-2000) died before work on the building was completed (2004). The building was criticised, not only for the cost (it was completed for ten times the original estimate), the location & some two thousand design changes, but also for its overall complexity or “piling on the motifs & ideas…”
Whatever we think of the original design, twenty-five years after its selection it’s difficult to imagine a Scotland without it.
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