SCOTLAND IS A LAND ... IT IS NOT A SERIES OF CITIES.
The Parliament should be able to reflect the land, which it represents.
THE OPEN SITE...
This is a crucial image in understanding the possibilities of the site.
The land itself will be a material, a physical building material. We would like the qualities that the peat gives to the water and turf were the basis for the new Parliament.
This is a way of making a conceptual distance from Holyrood Palace. Whereas the Palace is a building set on the landscape, related to the gardening tradition, the Scottish Parliament would be slotted into the land.
The perception of the place and the scale of the site will change drastically when the end of Canon Gate is opened.
The small scale of the houses along the Canon Gate will appear again and distant views will open to the Robert Burns Monument and the rock of Arthur's seat.
The new Scottish Parliament should not impair these views which will become visible when the existing Brewery is demolished.
Small scale and long distance views, like the attentive eye of the John Knox building on the Royal Mile, offer a new field of vision.
THE PARLIAMENT SITS IN THE LAND, because its belong to the Scottish land.
This is our goal.
From the outset we have worked with the intuition that individual identification with land carries collective consciousness and sentiments.
We don't want to forget that the Scottish Parliament will be in Edinburgh, but will belong to Scotland, to the Scottish land. The Parliament should be able to reflect the land it represents. The building should arise from the sloping base of Arthur's seat and arrive into the city almost surging out of the rock.
THE SEATS OF THE PARLIAMENT ARE A FRAGMENT OF A LARGE AMPHITHEATRE WHERE CITIZENS CAN SIT ON THE LANDSCAPE.
It is a diagram that could be built in many ways…The social form could have many 'forms'…
The natural amphitheatre will be the first form in the land. We hope that what emerges from this form is a series of identifications between the building and the land, between land and citizens, between citizens and the building. Not just and 'image' but a physical representation of a participatory attitude to sit together -gathering.
How is it going to be fundamentally distinct from other European Parliaments?
Instead of an overwhelming monument, which only relates to dimensions and rhetorical forms, we like to think about it in terms of a psychological approach.
What is the mental image of the new Parliament?
How will all of us, citizens, relate in our mind to the new Parliament?
The Parliament should belong to a broader concept. The specific place should not be crucial. The Parliament building should come out of a clear and strong statement…in a way independent of site circumstances …Any strong statement should carry political implications…
The Parliament is a form in people’s mind. It is a mental place. That place should be expressed in the site. We have the feeling that the building should be land…
built out of land…To carve in the land the form of gathering people together.
Neither a building in a park nor a garden.
Citizens, sitting, resting, thinking but in a similar place and position as members of Parliament.
From our recollections of Scotland we find these images that stick in our minds.
The boats offered by the land.
We like these boats not only in their construction, but also in their dedicate presence in a place.
Something about their form floating in the landscape should be a part of our project.
Enric Miralles, 1998
Status: Built
Location: Edinburgh, GB
Firm Role: Architect and Landscape Architect
Additional Credits:
SCOTTISH PARLIAMENT
Credits
Date: 1998 – 2004
Location: Scotland, United Kingdom
Client: The Scottish Parliament Corporate Bd.
Type of project: First prize in competition, new construction
Program: Building Parliament of Edinburgh
Architect: Enric Miralles, Benedetta Tagliabue - Miralles Tagliabue EMBT and RMJM Scotland LTD, M.A.H Duncan, T.B. Stewart
Competition
Project Director: Joan Callis
Project Team: Constanza Chara, Omer Arbel, Fabian Asunción, Steven Bacaus, Michael Eichhorn, Christopher Hitz, Francesco Mozzati. Leonardo Giovanozzi, Fergus Mc Ardle, Fernanda Hannah, Annie Marcela Henao, Ricardo Jiménez.
Basic Project
Project Director: Joan Callis
Site Architect: Karl Unglaub
Project Team: Constanza Chara Umberto Viotto, Michael Eichhorn, Fabian Asunción, Fergus Mc Ardle, Sania Belli , Gustavo Silva Nicoletti, Vicenzo Franza , Antonio Benaduce, Andrew Vrana, Bernardo Ríos, Torsten Skoetz, Tomoko Sakamoko, Javier García Germán. Annie Marcela Henao, Christian Molina Angel Gaspar Caspado, Nadja Pröwer, Sania Belli, Pedro Ogesto Vallina, Leonardo Giovannozzi, Sara Hay, Marco Santini, Francesco Matucci, Cristiane Felber, Marco de la Porta, Sonia Henriques, Luciano Di Romanico, Jan Locke, Christine Stauss, Sandra Stecklina, Simone Brussaferi, Claudia Lucchini, Stefan Geenen, Kristina Kinder, Franziska Bartsh, Adam Strong, Patricia Giacobbe, Rafael du Montard, Florencia Vechter.
Executive Project
Project Director: Joan Callis
Site Architect: Karl Unglaub
Project Team: Constanza Chara, Umberto Viotto, Eugenio Cirulli, Fergus Mc Ardle, Leonardo Giovannozzi, Francesco Matucci, Emanuele Bottigella, Torsten Skoetz, Albert Nasser, Jorge Rollán Raffin, Griet Lambrechts, Sandy Brunner, Péter Sándor Nagy.
RMJM Staff
Architectural and Landscape Team:
Andrew Hodgkinson, Andy Bushell, Annette Raible, Armin Rose, Barry Croall, Bernd Woger, Brian Stewart, Bryan Thomas, Calum McLeod, Carl Davies, Carl McWilliam, Caryl Stephen, Chin Koi Khoo, Choon Yen Yap, Chris Patterson, Christopher Walsh, Claire Coombe, Claire Gordon, Colin Cairns Ford, Conor Pittman, Craig Hovell, Cristina González-Longo, David James, David Malley, David Maxwell, David McPherson, David Miller, David Reat, Debbie McKeen, Emma Franks, Fan Tie, Fiona Kelso, Fiona McNeill, Fraser Hay, Gillian Hanley, Gordon Gray, Gordon Hulley, Gordon McGregor, Graeme Marshall, Guiseppina Ascoine, Hector McDonald, Ian Burns, Jackie Brown, Jackie Milne, Jason Sharman, Jennifer Cassidy, John Doogan, John Dwyer, John Kinsley, John Marshall, John Ramsay, John Welsh, Julia Radcliffe, Karin Ott, Kath MacTaggart, Keith MacRae, Kenny Fraser, Kevin Grubb, Khairul Khalifah, Kirsten Spence, Kirsty Raitt, Laura Walder, Leigh Muldownie, Louisa Reid, Lumir Soukup, Malcom Christie, Manuela Molendini, Mark Bingham, Mark Dowey, Mark Hutcheson, Merlinda Song, Mette Thagaard, Michael Duncan, Mike Lee, Mike Murray, Moira Blane, Monika Einwachter, Nathan Ward, Nick Finlay-Coulson, Nicola Henderson, Nira Ponniah, Norman McKenzie, Pamela Syme, Patrick MacDonald, Philip White, Pohkit Goh, Rachel Smith, Rebecca Wober, Robin Gibson, Ross Milne, Sandra Costa Santos, Simon Brims, Simon Richards, Thomas Hutcheson, Tom Hay, Tony Kettle. Tony Malley, Victoria McAllum, William Anderson, William McElhinney, Wilson Homal.
Consultants: BOVIS Lend Lease Construction Manager
Davis Langdon & Everest Quantity Surveyors
Ove Arup & Partners Structural Engineers
Arup Facades Façades
Buro Happold Fedra Access Consultants
Merritt-Harrison Catering Consultants Catering
Consultants
WS Atkins Fire Consultants
RMJM Building Services Building Services Engineers
RMJM Structures Civil/Structural Engineers
Art in Partnership Art Procurement
Graven Images Designers of Public Exhibition
RMJM Landscape Landscape Architects
ECD Energy & Environment Environmental Consultants
Office for Visual Interaction OVI Lighting Consultants
Cairns Property Services Building Control Advisors
Turner Townsend Management Systems Planning Supervisors
Sandy Brown Associates Acoustic Consultants
Scottish Lime Centre Advisors on Harling Specifications for Queensberry House
CDT Signage Consultants
Health & Safety Executive Health & Safety Regulation Advisors
Built Area: 30.000m²
Site Area: 47.000m²
