Visitor Centre + Arts Base for the RSPB, Loch Lomond | Critical Reflection
Responding to an area of natural beauty and geological significance requires a sensitive yet robust approach, due to the harsh atmospheric conditions of Scottish weather.
Creating simple shelters with a sense of solidity, density and permanence. Resist of form formal integration & do not articulate their form to respond to the landscape. Instead are embedded via their spatial and geological relationships. The design takes cues from characteristics of the site and surrounds, such as the marsh and forestry, and stone buildings local to the area. It encourages visitors to look around, to explore, and take the time engaging with the place.
This single-storey visitor centre juts out from the hillside, with its entrance wrapped in timber and grass continued up its gently sloped roof, contrasting with the paved stone walkway. Interconnected pavilions built around the circulation show a route through and around the building. As the site slopes downward, the building's roof angles up to culminate in a double-height space with a timber-topped canopy in front. The building's shape, stonework, and grassy roof are all intended to help it dissolve into the landscape. The project reflects a contemporary approach to integrating a new structure into a sensitive location.
