Grianan Technology Park, Dundee Building, Photo, News, Scottish Design
Grianan Dundee Technology Park Building
Grianan, Technology Park Dundee design by Nicoll Russell Studios, Dundee, Tayside, East Scotland
17 Feb 2010
Grianan Dundee
Dundee Technology Park
Design: Nicoll Russell Studios
Grianan Technology Park Dundee
photograph from Nicoll Russell Studios
Grianan is Gaelic for a ‘sunny place’, and the name of a cottage which originally stood on the site. The cottage took on an architectural importance to the practice in their consideration of how to create a ‘landmark’ of the first speculative office development on Dundee’s then new Technology Park.
This concern was, and still is, at odds with the often arbitrary and temporary nature of most business park architecture, where offices and people are marooned in seas of lawns and car parking surrounded by ranks of trees. Grianan had to be a ‘place’ and initially it was thought that the existing cottage could be integrated into the new building, but this line of thought eventually morphed into the concept illustrated by the completed building.
photos from Nicoll Russell Studios
The building comprises four squares set within a larger square. Three of the squares are office space whilst the fourth is a car park courtyard contained by ivy clad rubble walling, creating a place rooted in its setting from which glimpses of the modern office building are revealed beyond, and floating above, the heavy walls. A two storey glass entrance lobby pierces the courtyard at the intersection of the four squares and leads into a lobby centrally located between potentially three subdivided office spaces within each of the building’s two floors.
Once beyond the rubble walls Grianan is revealed as a ‘perfect’ glazed pavilion set within a manicured parkland. The contrast created by the juxtaposition of modern and rustic elements and its realisation at a detailed level instills Grianan with a magical quality which is timeless and could be argued to have been inspirational to many architects since.
photos from Nicoll Russell Studios
Dundee Technology Park images / information from Nicoll Russell Studios
Location: Dundee, Tayside, Scotland, UK
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image from Richard Murphy Architects
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