July 18 2018

Kenneth Reid Architects are proposing to double the number of purpose-built student studio rooms to be created at Mayfield Road, Edinburgh, by extending the building footprint over adjacent terraced housing.

In doing so the number of rooms will be increased from 83 to 158.

Finished in buff, off-white and orange render the project employs colour to break up its length by dividing the façade into smaller lengths similar in scale to the current terraced homes.

In a statement the architects noted: “The existing amalgamation of buildings on the site do not have a common architectural language and appear haphazard and disjointed. As such we have viewed this as an opportunity to strengthen the streetscape, extending the scale and prevailing language (bay windows) of the adjacent terraced houses to a termination adjacent to the Braid Burn.”

Protruding steel columns in the middle of this façade will serve as an entrance feature while also providing an element of shelter.

9 Comments

#1 Posted by Goosey goosey on 18 Jul 2018 at 10:01 AM

"In a statement the architects noted: “The existing amalgamation of buildings on the site do not have a common architectural language and appear haphazard and disjointed."

So they thought they would do more of the same?

#2 Posted by boaby wan on 18 Jul 2018 at 10:10 AM

"The existing amalgamation of buildings on the site do not have a common architectural language and appear haphazard and disjointed. As such we have not bothered to care about just how hideous this looks, we've not even bothered to consider the massing other than to maximise the number of students that can be squeezed into the plot..."
surely 5/6 storey development isn't really appropriate for this area of edinburgh?

#3 Posted by Mac Mac on 18 Jul 2018 at 10:42 AM

Way over developed and over scaled. How the original scheme got Planning Consent surprises me with the ghosted out upper storeys!!

#4 Posted by CM on 18 Jul 2018 at 11:10 AM

Truly awful - Totally out of scale and the orange and white render with generous lashings on zinc render.... cmon!

#5 Posted by Egbert on 18 Jul 2018 at 11:44 AM

Good grief. I thought this one had been knocked back? That conveniently ghosted-out top pair of storeys can't be fooling anyone.

#6 Posted by blehbleh on 18 Jul 2018 at 12:38 PM

As with the previous article, the author refers to the proposal as being in Craigmillar. It's not. Craigmillar is c. 2 miles east. Ghastly development proposal.

#7 Posted by StyleCouncil on 18 Jul 2018 at 17:59 PM

The original scheme was horrific enough. Cant believe it ever got planning...
Out with the halo of the World Heritage, there is a lot of utter dross being consented in the city.

#8 Posted by Islands of sanity on 19 Jul 2018 at 08:11 AM

Passed this site near KB, not Craigmillar yesterday and wondered what was happening. Opened UR today and for goodness sake. What a joke. All sense of place zapped. More Town cramming.

#9 Posted by rankbadyin on 20 Jul 2018 at 12:18 PM

More akin to the services entrance of a football stadium, or worse, a PFI prison.

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