14th,15th,16th,17th,18th,19th ... 21st Century Scots Wall
The difference between a '21st Century Scottish wall' and the walls that enclosed space in bygone centuries in Scotland is that today walls need not be load bearing. This small fact has had massive repercussions on the character of Scotland’s cities. The challenge and opportunity is to consider 'hung facades' in our contemporary architecture. Opportunity to fold, cantilever and stack bond cladding is possible. The sculptural character of a Scottish wall mass is still something we might celebrate ... this is something we chose to do at Stirling. Here we took the primary facade of our development and developed a contemporary Scots wall. More solid than void... small openings then very large openings.
The diagram illustrated also captures a beautiful narrative of decreasing defensiveness in Scottish architecture. Early tower houses having massive thick walls and tiny windows. Towards the late nineteenth century the fanciful Scots baronial architecture forgets its past torment.
