Bearing Stone
- Playfairs Gallery

Location: National Gallery of Scotland Plaza, Edinburgh, Scotland
Duration: Yr 4 Semester 1
Project type: Detail Interventions utilisng the design capacity of stone

Medium: Handrawn, Digital

The project encompasses 3 key interventions madeon the Plazabetween Playfair’s Scottish National Gallery, and the RSA. All structures utilise stone invarying degrees from raw quarried blocks, cut bricks, and fine ashlar pieces. This degree of refeinement is relfected in the typology and overall design of each intervention. From Princes street, individuals are collected via a pavilion like structure, which utilises a timber/steel compostie beam, placed upon Secondary cut sandstone blocks, some still with thier drill marks visible. From this, the plaza space becomes cleary defined, from that associated with the galleries, and the adjascent area in which, such as the chirstmas markets and fringe activites take place. This leads to a skylight,  highlighting a deep, crossed concrete beam hidden within the undercroft area of the gallery. The skylight sits on an exsiting “mustaba”, a tomb like object,which is often a place for protest, hence the ability to stand atop of this structure is purpously retained.A sliding stone door allow the viewing platform to be closed for security purposes. A vaulted undersided stair case uses stone bricks to create a fan like appearence, siginficant as this underside is visible from the window directly beneath.

The project takes inspiration from key precedent studies, particularly drawing on the themes of pragmatic and proseic characteristics working together to capitlise on the benefits of each property.