Land of Stone

'Welcome to a journey of remarkable buildings and remarkable thoughts about these buildings, shaped as they are by deep time, modern ideas and Scottish culture. Readers are sure to see new vistas in the land of stone open before them' From the Foreword by PROFESSOR ANDREW PATRIZIO What makes Scottish architecture Scottish? What ideas drive Scottish architecture? What has modern architecture in Scotland meant to the Scots? Ever since the granny-tops, rattling and clanking in the wind to draw smoke up the tenemental flues from open coal fires, caught my attention as a three-year-old, architecture and its many parts, purposes, processes and procedures has fascinated me. For me, architecture has always had profound significance. 'Land of Stone' seeks to disengage widely-held conceptions of what a Scottish architecture superficially looks like and to focus on the ideas and events philosophical, political, practical and personal that inspired architects and their clients to create the cities, towns, villages and buildings we cherish today.