Spring 2024 Magazine
Spring 2024 Magazine
AHSS Magazine Spring 2024 is now available online

The inspiration for this issue of the magazine is the materials that make up our built environment. However, it could also be education or, more accurately, “re-learning” and “un-learning”, as one contributor put it.
My love of industrial archaeology meant that visiting the Slate Isles has been on my bucket list for a long time. I managed it last year and was pleased to hear about plans to re-open the Cullipool slate quarry on Luing. Graham Briggs takes us through the island’s history, the challenges the area faces, and the project’s myriad opportunities, including skills development and training.
In his timely report about RAAC (Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete), Peter Drummond notes that “innovative materials and construction techniques are often poorly researched and understood”. However, after reading DrTim Meek’s article about lime finishes on historic buildings, it seems we also have a problem understanding much older structures. His argument – that far more of our traditional buildings had lime finishes than we had realised – is born out of extensive, detailed research rather than conservation dogma. It is persuasive stuff, and I now find myself squinting suspiciously at bare stone buildings, puzzling over their history and fretting about their future.
Natasha Huq reflects on ‘Talks at the Lane’ and explores how contemporary architects and makers are re-imagining, recycling, and researching the materials in their work. She argues that we need to re-learn the qualities and histories of raw materials to give buildings a sense of place and challenge the more typical, carbon-intensive approaches. By chance, this issue’s Spotlight feature is by Jennifer O’Donnell, who took part in the talks programme. O’DonnellBrown’s winning proposal for the Crichton Project (‘The Laundry’) in Dumfries will be carbon neutral and use rammed earth construction for its health and environmental benefits. Old techniques become new once again.
The Architectural Heritage Fund has seen increasing numbers of applications from community groups wanting to take on former church buildings. Gordon Barr, its development manager for Scotland, provides some examples of successful transformations and some ‘top tips’ for those considering their options.
A clutch of reviews takes us through subjects as varied in scale and scope as modern Scottish architecture, Robert Adam bridges, and Edinburgh street lighting, while the local group reports offer a range of perspectives on planning casework, trips, and lectures. Whatever your stage of life or career, do consider getting involved.
Finally, Diana Murray’s ‘favourite building’ rounds off the magazine, and what a positively delightful choice it is too: full of character, charming and with a long history. Looking at it anew, though, I do wonder if its bare stone walls are quite right…
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