October 28 2021

Highland Architects have come together to raise awareness of places at risk from rising sea levels through a series of Markers in the landscape to coincide with the COP26 climate conference in Glasgow.

Part of the RIAS Inspiring Futures programme the effort maps out running and cycling routes that follow a redrawn coastline, including totems at both ends of the Caledonian Canal designed by Makar using native timber construction. This is joined by a rammed earth and turf marker at the Isle of Erraid and Glenfinnan designed by Arc Architects to highlight the perilous nature of flood risk locations.

Tom Morton of Arc Architects, said: “The marker is made from sand, a key traditional material used in mortars and plasters, whose rich variety was made by Scotland’s rivers, glaciers and seas. But sand takes 25,000 years to make and is at the top of the U.N.’s list of endangered natural resources. In decarbonising construction, we can also create a circular economy that safeguards our natural resources.”

Elsewhere ThreeSixty Architecture will install a window display at their office at 81 Academy Street, Inverness, to communicate environmentally responsible design projects to the public.

Members of the public are invited to participate in the programme by joining a series of beach cleans, guided walks and talks as part of the initiative

1 Comment

#1 Posted by JohnMF on 29 Oct 2021 at 10:50 AM

The reality of climate change / global heating was brought home to me about fifteen years ago in Switzerland, by a similar series of markers. We were walking towards the Morteratsch glacier, and kept on passing a series of markers bearing only the words "Gletscherzunge" - literally "glacier tongue or snout" - and a year. As we realised what these meant, it dawned on us that we had taken six kilometers to walk between 1881 and the then Gletscherzunge.

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