reiach and hall architects

Prospect Issue 100 June 2004

Buildings in Context

Reiach and Hall swept the board at this year's Scottish Design Awards. Westport picked up the Grand Prix, the Best Commercial Building and Buildings in Context awards. Neil Gillespie, Reiach and Hall's Chairman was voted by his peers as Archiect of the Year.

Neil Gillespie is chair and design director at Edinburgh practice, Reiach and Hall. He describes his role as 'keeping the conversation going within the practice'.

Gillespie is a strong advocate of collaboration, whether among architects or between architects and other creative disciplines. Gillespie has worked closely with artist Alan Johnston on a number of projects and the practice runs a gallery called sleeper in its basement. He would like to see more architects engaged in an open discussion about the work of their peers.

While a strong studio ethos may be the key to the practice's success, Gillespie has, over the years, developed an approach to design and an architectural language that is recognised and admired by his peers. No doubt that is why he was voted Architect of the Year by Prospect readers.

The clearest expression of his approach to date is Westport Evolution House in Edinburgh. The building scooped a bundle of awards including the Grand Prix and Buildings in Context award. 'The original doodles were concerned with how to put a relatively big building into the grain of the Old Town with its narrow feus. We looked at the pattern of solid and void and inverted it, the vennels became the solid parts, linear cores that we worked hard to ensure that they would string right through the site. We managed to get away with using a lot of glass at the back of the building and we have tried to embrace the stone aesthetic and develop a new vocabulary. We are not quite there yet.' says Gillespie.

The design of Westport was informed by a wide range of influences from Geddes's outlook tower, the historical and typological context and other jobs in Reiach and Hall's office, like the Pier Gallery. John McAslan, chair of the judging panel described Westport as 'contemporary in design and superb in its quality and execution.' He also paid tribute the the developer AMA for it's 'enlightened patronage.'

'AMA work at the top of the market, which makes them a great client. Most developers are hedging their bets. They produce something which might appeal to the top end of the market, but they can cope financially in the middle. AMA have the courage to build for the top. At the same time we think we have been preetty clever. The marble was sourced pretty cheaply by AMA. Our approach is to deal as simply as possible to put good materials to best effect.' said Gillespie.

Prospect Issue 100 June 2004

ISSN 0740-9047