Photo: Old College sky
Threatening sky over the Old College of the University of Edinburgh.
While it is well known that the building is by Robert Adam, the dome is not and is a much later addition: the observant will notice that it is a rather disparate addition and not in harmony with the rest of the building.
Photo: The Grand Gallery of the National Museum of Scotland
View of the cast iron framework and the skylight of the main hall of the National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh.
Photo: Radio Beacon
Detail of a radio beacon at the National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh.
Photo: The hand of James Watt
Detail of the sculpture of James Watt in the National Museum of Scotland, on Chambers Street in Edinburgh.
Photo: Glasgow arches
Colonnade of arches at the University of Glasgow.
Photo: Fresnel lens detail
Detail of a fresnel lens designed by David Stevenson for Inchkeith Lighthouse at the end of the 19th century, and now part of the National Museum of Scotland on Chambers Street in Edinburgh.
This first order dioptric holophotal revolving light showed a flash every half minute and made one complete revolution in four minutes.
Photo: Steam train drive train
Detail of the drivetrain of the South African Railways locomotive No. 3007, a 4-8-2 15F class engine that was built in Glasgow in 1945 and brought back and restored as an exhibit in the Riverside Museum in Glasgow (aka the Transport Museum).
Photo: Discovery sunburst
The RRS Discovery in Dundee. The Discovery is believed to be the last ‘traditional’ wooden three-masted ship to be built in Britain although her peculiar design, construction and rigging actually make her one of the strangest square riggers every built.
Photo: Raw hide
Close-up of an Indian rhinoceros at the Edinburgh Zoo.
Photo: Glasgow cranes
Three cranes from the BVT (BAE) shipyard in Govan in Glasgow – one of the last remaining shipyards on the River Clyde.
Photo: A sad wee face
Portrait of a squirrel monkey at the Edinburgh Zoo. While the Living Links monkey house has lots of space and lots of ropes/branches and food, there were lots of bored looking monkeys too. Mind you, if you locked a bunch of humans up they’d look bored too.
Photo: Somebody's always watching you
Black and white photo of a spray painted stencil of young boy’s head on Bristo Place, just down from the much missed Forest Cafe, Edinburgh. Did you notice the man in the doorway?
Photo: The road to enlightenment
40 George Square (previously The David Hume Tower – see this BBC article for background on why it was renamed) is part of the University of Edinburgh’s city centre campus and is located at the south-east corner of George Square.
George Square is notable for not only being the first planned square in Edinburgh, but for being the first real suburban development outside of the city’s southern wall – predating the development of Edinburgh’s New Town, which immediately eclipsed it as the ‘suburban’ destination of choice. Despite its apparent solidity, it is a rickety building – not only does it move in the wind but the wind whistles through the building in a frankly rather terrifying manner.
Photo: The power of Scotland
Designed by Catalan architect Enric Miralles, the Scottish Parliament has won a number of architectural awards, including the 2005 Stirling Prize.
The Scottish Parliament is (by some degree) the most incoherent building I have ever seen. Renowned postmodernist Charles Jencks described it as “quite a meal” – faint praise indeed. A very strange mix of post-modernism, brutalism and vernacular architecture, individual bits of the building are spectacular, but the whole is little more than a regurgitated mass of juxtapositions and alien iconographies.