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Consultation gets underway for Cairngorm Mountain visitor centre upgrade

October 27 2015

 Consultation gets underway for Cairngorm Mountain visitor centre upgrade
A public consultation is set to get underway this week on a Keppie Design plan to upgrade visitor facilities at Cairngorm Mountain, enhancing its appeal as a leisure and adventure destination.

Masterminded by site owner Natural Retreats the plan will cost up to £15m to deliver and see construction of a replacement day lodge with a café, shops, ski and bike hire, a crèche, adventure zone, gym, offices and conference and event space.

A staff bunkhouse would also be built to allow a greater range of opening hours in addition to creation of a mountain rescue and medical centre.

A new artificial ski slope would also be built as well as mountain bike trails, enhanced snow making facilities and improvements to ski signage and way-finding, car parking and landscaping.

Adam Gough, head of technical services at Natural Retreats said: “Current activities on the mountain are heavily weather-dependent and the buildings are no longer fit for purpose. This project will address both of these problems and transform Cairngorm into a four-season mountain destination.

 “We will keep participants up to date with the progress we make with our detailed plans prior to our planning applications being submitted early next year.”

Consultations will take place on 27 October between 11.30 and 19:00 at the Cairngorm Hotel, Aviemore; with follow-up events planned for 28 October and 4-5 November at the same times in the Aonach Room, CairnGorm Mountain Base Station.
A Proposal of Application Notice has been submitted to Highland Council
A Proposal of Application Notice has been submitted to Highland Council
Locally sourced materials will be used in the construction phase
Locally sourced materials will be used in the construction phase

Natural Retreats aim to make Cairngorm Mountain a year round destination
Natural Retreats aim to make Cairngorm Mountain a year round destination

20 Comments

autobot
#1 Posted by autobot on 27 Oct 2015 at 15:04 PM
The renders give this a very dated feel from the outset. The external spaces look like prison exercise yards. The building elements look awkward and crude, with some wonky geometry thrown in for good measure. I think the idea of simple volumes engaging with the landscape is the correct approach, with the right care and attention, but this looks like Optimus Prime has taken a monumental modernist dump on the hillside (back in the 70’s). And it had unfortunately landed right on top of the ski resort.
Jon
#2 Posted by Jon on 27 Oct 2015 at 15:43 PM
Quite a few Bentley drivers going skiing in the Cairngorms, apparently...
Egbert
#3 Posted by Egbert on 27 Oct 2015 at 16:06 PM
I don't know - there is a certain Yes-album-cover 1970s heroic monumentality to the proposals, and I personally don't think the jagged geometries need any excuse given the dramatic setting. It's just a shame that the oh-so-clever SketchUp plugin does the scheme no favours - the cod hand-drawn images just look muddy and over-wrought. Why not just draw it?

And yes, get the Part I to lay off the Bentleys...
Jon
#4 Posted by Jon on 27 Oct 2015 at 16:29 PM
Rolls Royce, even
stop this mindlessness
#5 Posted by stop this mindlessness on 27 Oct 2015 at 17:11 PM
never mind the snootiness - this is just plain awful.
 Scott
#6 Posted by Scott on 27 Oct 2015 at 21:29 PM
This is in an area of outstanding natural beauty Developers need to realise the wildness and the mountain landscape are what people come to see and appreciate not some 70's inspired shopping mall stuck 2000ft up a mountain. Its really depressing as you'll be able to see this for miles
Jeremy McClarkson
#7 Posted by Jeremy McClarkson on 28 Oct 2015 at 10:46 AM
6 black Phantoms, 5 Kia Souls (representing the masses), 1 TT, a few toyotaah's and 3no pimped out 1992 BMW 3 series coupes.
Perhaps a bit more TLC could have gone into the form and detail of the building rather than the car park which is waaay too dominant.
That said, I do like its projecting menace and materials pallete..feels like home for a pussy stroking Blofeld. Could be a very interesting scheme. Glad to see absence of turf roof, timber and gabions....good luck Keppies.
freemy
#8 Posted by freemy on 28 Oct 2015 at 11:43 AM
@ #7: Not a 1993 BMW, but a later E46 M3 CSL (bonnet bulge). Volvo XC70 in there too. Anyway architects are not allowed to show interest in cars.

Building: doesn't seem like a serious effort and has been left to the Part 1 to do.
conscientious objector
#9 Posted by conscientious objector on 28 Oct 2015 at 12:23 PM
There are moments in the images where the proposal starts to engage with the landscape, but overall its simply a confused mess.
lm
#10 Posted by lm on 28 Oct 2015 at 13:16 PM
It seems like the majority got overheated by the cars situation. I think the design is good, maybe not well presented but it's fine .It looks like an initial drawing for me ....At least, It's a lot better than other poor designs I see everyday on UR.
autobot
#11 Posted by autobot on 28 Oct 2015 at 14:17 PM
#10 Im
....no it isn't.
Glass half full
#12 Posted by Glass half full on 28 Oct 2015 at 15:43 PM
@#8 Good spot on the XC70/ Pre 2080 model I believe....

Interesting scheme, pity about the render technique. Usual over sensitive criticism in comments...especially given we only have 3 images and no visual analysis from distance.
autobot
#13 Posted by autobot on 28 Oct 2015 at 17:14 PM
#12
You're right, it will indeed look much better from miles away. I'd say it will look very pretty from about 4 miles. Close up though it looks like a death camp.
'we are not here to talk about proportion'
#14 Posted by 'we are not here to talk about proportion' on 29 Oct 2015 at 08:28 AM
I do have to laugh. Art and technology. In this case it's a definite divorce.

Sorry for sounding like such a divvy here on this forum, but i presume they've calculated the deflection in that miraculous cantilever and that the sticks that are called mullions (i tink), and glass (especially at those centres) will be able to cope with the wind-loading and said deflection.

I think not. Ah well, that's another design in the bin then. Never mind, carry on. Take the prow away and they'll recycle it as a secondary school in Bellshill.

(Absolutely no disrespect to Bellshill as some of my best friends...)
Tam
#15 Posted by Tam on 29 Oct 2015 at 13:09 PM
The evil sibling of the old South Queensferry Hotel has risen from Architect Hell, mated with a 1970s motorway service station and its offspring is now trying to plonk itself in the national scenic area of a National Park
The quality taste polis
#16 Posted by The quality taste polis on 29 Oct 2015 at 13:33 PM
It would seem that one person's 1970's motorway service-station design is another's 2015 retro-sophisticated-nuanced and tasteful design by those in the know and with their finger on the real pulse.

How true it is, how true.

Genius Loci? Whit's that by the way?
D to the R
#17 Posted by D to the R on 29 Oct 2015 at 13:49 PM
Who cares about the car they have used? Aren't you interested in the architectural critique? Don't mind it ... Renders are dross and the cantilever in the fourth image seems questionable ?
freemy
#18 Posted by freemy on 29 Oct 2015 at 13:55 PM
#17, thanks for wading in with that architectural critique. That's us told.
GD
#19 Posted by GD on 29 Oct 2015 at 14:50 PM
Hopefully once built the cantilever will perform like a giant sail, and rip this atrocity from the ground and end up in the north sea.
D to the R
#20 Posted by D to the R on 29 Oct 2015 at 17:12 PM
@17 Your welcome ... Yer telt

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