P5 excursion - Edinburgh
A Visit to Leith Walk: Edinburgh 23 – 27 September 2009
Leith Walk is a major transit route between Edinburgh New Town and Leith (the former harbour district). Because of this relationship, the street has a complicated identity, belonging both to the edge of the upper-class New Town of Edinburgh and to the rough qualities of the old harbour. The buildings along the street act as an ongoing façade that closes off the back areas. Part of the P5 studio this year consists of a visit to the actual street we are going to be planning our projects in or around. The goal of this visit was to use film as a means of capturing the initial concept and ideas about your fascination and at the end of the stay to present these movies to the tutors. We worked on our interests a little before we visited Edinburgh, however we still had, what felt like, a very short time to really get to know the city and the more specific direct surroundings of the location.
But we were lucky to have a very nice twist to the usual studio setup. The Edinburgh College of Arts – Landscaping Department, was invited to join us in our effort and they accepted the invitation. This resulted in a superb co-worker relationship as every Dutch student was coupled to a partner from the College of Arts. In this way we were provided with a personal guide each, but more importantly, we were now able to discuss our emerging fascinations from different points of view and produce our films together.
Leith Walk, Edinburgh
The Head of the Architecture Department (who’s students unfortunately were not able to join in this time due to timing difficulties ) – Derek Fraser, very kindly joined our final presentations and acted as a visiting-critic along with Lisa MacKenzie from the Landscape Department. They both gave all of us very good feedback on our ideas.
One of the most imported (and by now heavily debated) developments in the Edinburgh-area are the various waterfront-developments, the most important one being the master plan on the restructuring and reprogramming of the old Leith-docks as residential areas. One party in particular is really firing up this discussion and that’s the AiA (Arts in Architecture). They invited us to come and hear about their side of the story and very kindly provided us with the possibility to work in their atelier, which is situated in an old lighthouse.
Leith-docks
All these positive invitations and collaboration really made for a very pleasant and productive stay in Edinburgh. The final presentations were a great way to conclude this joint-effort to investigate in our Leith Walk fascinations. But aside this, the whole evening also had a very good and positive feel about it. Both we – as Dutch students – and our Edinburgh partners were really pleased with the outcome and questioning why this should remain a unique collaboration; everyone agreed that the integration of disciplines, as it can be seen in practice, should already be more emphasized during the education, to provide with better solutions for future projects.
Pieter and Risko, 2009 Edinburgh
Big thanks to our Scottish student partners: Dominic Cifelli, Thomas Clark, Charlotta Eriksson, Euan James Maharg, Louise Searle and Vladimirs Guculars. And of course: Ross McEwan and Shaeron Averbuch at Art in Architecture.
Tutors
Jo Barnett, Ingeborg Thoral
P5 Edinburgh Studio
Avital Broide, Sander Olden, Risko Reuvers, Pieter van Roermund, Bas Schuit
Finding the transitional territories between the inside and the outside
In our studio we will investigate a clear line in the city of Edinburgh - Leith Walk. This Walk takes you from the heart of Edinburgh (is this the Inside?) to the newly developing old Dock area of Leith to the North East of the city (is this the Outside?). We will move from high points of ground (Calton Hill at 100.42 metres) to the low waters at sea level (the Firth of Forth in Leith).
Could Leith Walk be viewed as a section through the city from outside to inside or perhaps the reverse from inside to outside, depending on your point of view? If this is so, then where does the city begin or end? Where does this transition take place between inside and outside? Or are the City and Leith superimposed on each other like a dual personality? At what point does one or the other reveal itself? When do the distinct characteristics of Edinburgh or Leith become visible, and how? Is one better than the other?