Potterrow
Cities
An important city centre site forming part of the central George Square campus for the University of Edinburgh.
Project Details
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Edinburgh
Location
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The University of Edinburgh
Client
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16,528 m2
Area
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£40.6 M
Value
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2008
Completion
As the major component of the University of Edinburgh’s new masterplan for the George Square and Bristo Square area, Potterrow replaces a windswept car park with a rich mix of buildings, courtyards and reinstated streetlines.
The brief was to design academic accommodation which could be constructed in two phases and set within a central area masterplan commissioned by the University in the previous year.
Phase one was for two principal users, the School of Informatics (Informatics Forum), and the School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences (Dugald Stewart Building), with an information centre and exhibition space. Phase two is the Bayes Centre which brings together researchers, students and start-ups working in data technology, design informatics, mathematics and robotics.
The masterplan approach made it clear that the University were thinking about the identity of a whole area of the city, not just a single site. They were also willing to address substantive issues such as building new roads and demolishing relatively modern buildings to improve the George Square area. Potterrow is the first manifestation of these aims.
Street lines and scales of the complex surroundings are respected, learning from history by re-establishing the former diagonal street pattern in a different way. References to the types of spaces and textures in central Edinburgh such as pends, courtyards and contrasting materials are knitting in.
A range of objectives included design excellence, pursuit of BREEAM excellent rating and flexibility of present and future use. Alongside this was the creation of a student / pedestrian friendly precinct to encourage the area to become a central hub for the City’s annual festival. The buildings contain ‘atrium’ type spaces, providing a focal points and enabling interface between the university and the public.
Academic space throughout is relatively uniform and adaptable to potential future uses. Much of the accommodation is cellular, so the floorplates have been laid out to ensure that circulation routes engage with a variety of viewing points, open-plan break out spaces and double-height volumes. From the inside, the buildings are rational and simple; from the outside they appear far more complex and responsive to their surroundings. Image shows the Informatics Forum.
“We are finally together under one roof. We live, work and play in the best building in Scotland, a fitting home for the UK’s leading community of researchers in Computer Science and Informatics.”
Mike Fourman
Head of Informatics, University of Edinburgh
Bayes Centre
Bayes Centre
Awards
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RIBA National Award
RIBA National Award
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RIAS Andrew Doolan Prize
Best Building in Scotland
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BCO National Award
National Corporate Workplace Award
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Civic Trust Award
Award
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RICS Award
Project of the Year
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RICS Award
Winner, Sustainability category
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Scottish Design Award
Public Building Category
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Scottish Design Award
Chairman's Award for Architecture
Credits
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The University of Edinburgh
Client
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Balfour Beatty
Contractor
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Buro Happold
Structural & Services Engineer
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Turner & Townsend
Quantity Surveyor
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Ironside Farrar
Landscape Architect