A final-year Architecture student at Robert Gordon University’s (RGU) Scott Sutherland School of Architecture and Built Environment has designed a new social hub for the town of Aviemore, where locals and visitors can come to eat, drink and socialise.
Neil Mair’s food centre aims to embed food and drink as part of the Cairngorms visitor experience, improve collaboration between producers and suppliers and facilitate better distribution and retailing, and enable opportunities for better community engagement and food education.
His designs for the town centre food complex incorporate a market hall, street food hall, cookery school, and serviced apartments.
Neil (23) and his fellow students have been working on a wider Aviemore ‘masterplan’ project for the last two years which has seen them develop ideas on how to ensure the popular tourist town is setup to cater for the tens of thousands of visitors it hosts every year.
Neil commented: “My proposal is founded on the principles of order and grid, as a means through which to establish a sense of organisation and legibility, but also to facilitate a system of frame and infill which can provide a degree of adaptability to allow for future contingencies.
“My design is not interested in the development of pastiche or kitsch responses which demand the superficial use of timber or of pitched roofs, but rather to create something of high quality with longevity and which is worth keeping for many years to come in a place which, for too long and to its detriment, has allowed its built environment to develop on an ad-hoc basis.
“It is about the art of building – a vehicle through which I could gain a deeper understanding about how materials, building elements, structures, go together to create something beautiful.”
Neil’s designs take inspiration from Ancient Greek architecture, specifically the Classical Agora – places where people gathered to trade, learn and meet.
“My design takes the form of two linear volumes set perpendicular to the road running through the settlement and takes influence from the Greek Stoas. These were long, linear buildings which could accommodate a number of uses in their lifetime.
“Each of the two buildings were developed to reflect the nature of the uses they house. The market was developed as an entirely open entity, to reflect ideas of openness, light, and transparency associated with traditional market hall structures, and the need for visibility of the products available for sale there.
“The main building, housing the food hall, cookery school, and apartments, is a more cellular entity, to reflect ideas of warmth and shelter as a place in which people might dwell or spend time within.”
Neil’s project, along with many other innovative and creative designs, will be on display at the Scott Sutherland School of Architecture End of Year Show, which opens on Saturday, June 23, in the Sir Ian Wood Building and is open from 8am to 10pm weekdays and 10am to 6pm at the weekend.
For more information please visit www.rgu.ac.uk/scotts-show-2018
Neil Mair