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New Town allotment plans cause a lot of bother

March 9 2011

New Town allotment plans cause a lot of bother
A planned five metre high allotment shed has had to be redesigned after residents of Edinburgh’s New Town claimed it would ruin the historic Georgian skyline.

The stushie centres on a narrow strip of land joining Doune Terrace and Mackenzie Place which Edinburgh City Council wishes to see transformed into allotments.

Those plans are likely to be approved by planners on Wednesday – sans shed.

Sutherland Hussey Architects intended for their ambitious structure to be a “gatehouse” to the allotments and clad it in black stained timber battens to “complement the organic materials and texture of the allotment itself.”

Susie Thornton, chair of the Ann Street Society, was having none of it though, saying: “It is our view that the 'hut' is much too large and is out of character with the majority of buildings in the area. The name 'hut' belies its character. It is no hut. It is a large shed of industrial proportions.

“The design of a long black wooden trapezoid with the street-facing wall unbroken by windows relates to no other building in the area, neither the flats opposite nor the Georgian terraces.”
Internally the wood is stained white
Internally the wood is stained white
The plan of the building is roughly trapezoidal
The plan of the building is roughly trapezoidal

2 Comments

Frank Stehl [macmon architects]
#1 Posted by Frank Stehl [macmon architects] on 9 Mar 2011 at 16:26 PM
If we keep looking at historic elements and see these as a merit we will never be able to develop and to see ourselves in a contemporary light.
People! Go and get on your horse-trailer and wear your top-heads on your way to church on sunday! (or would you rather take your all new designed BMW's and go to footy?) I call this fake tradition if people cannot understand that we not living in the 19th century anymore when it comes to architecture and townscape.
Ann Street
#2 Posted by Ann Street on 11 Mar 2011 at 14:17 PM


The proposal doesn't even have an entablature for goodness sake, clearly a stone temple and nothing less will suffice for our athens of the north.

That one on the calton hill is splendid although I haven't seen much activity lately, does anyone know when it's due to complete?

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