AHI Architectural Heritage Intervention

“Contributing to enhancing our heritage, as the way forward for 21 st Century architecture is our raison d’être; to emphasize a diverse, rich vision that necessarily complements the intervention is our mission, and achieving it with reflexive and purposeful efforts is the challenge”.

This project, founded in, and directed since, 2011 by Ramon Calonge, Oriol Cusidó, Marc Manzano and Jordi Portal, architects and members of the Group of Architects for the Defence and Intervention in Architectural Heritage (AADIPA), has, through the years become a platform that includes four actions that are both independent and transversal.
 
The European Award, a biennial event that brings together and showcases the multiple approaches of intervention in Europe.

The International Biennial, a framework that serves to compare and gain closer insight of quality interventions in architectural heritage in non-European countries.

The digital Archive, a live and open window that provides a panoramic view of interventions in the history of our surroundings.

The Forum, a meeting place where you can participate in on-going debates about the main preoccupations and lines of thought about interventions in architectural heritage in Europe.

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The Dunbar Battery

The Dunbar Battery

The battery would have continued to deteriorate had a new life not been found for the structure. Ultimately the site may well have had to be closed to public access due to safety concerns had a regenerative approach not been instigated. The battery design exploits the site’s palimpsest, using the layers of history to inform and guide the design and distribution of various contemporary interventions. The design seeks to amplify the existing character whilst transforming the space into a multi-function public arena. The amphitheatre is integrated into the void formed by the walls of the former hospital so as to leave the trace of the hospital untouched and the views unimpeded. The robust and reduced material palette responds to the exposed location and complements the richness of the existing stone walls. Bespoke metal work is deliberately delicate and transparent so as not to obscure views across the site. Innovation lay in the vision of the Trust to radically reinvent the type of place it could be, other than simply preserve the structure.

Author

rankinfraser landscape architecture
Chris Rankin
Kirsty Knott

Collaborators

Civil & Structural Engineer: David Narro Associates
Main Contractor: G. Brown Stonemasons
Artist: Donald Urquhart
Interpretation and Graphic Designers: Studio LR
M&E Engineer: WGM Consulting Engineers
Lighting Designers: Kelvin Lighting
Quantity Surveyor: M+B Partnership
CDM Advisors: Alliance CDM
Archaeologists: AOC Archaeology

Edition

5
Finalist

Year

2017

City

Dunbar, Scotland

Country

United Kingdom

Surface area sqm

1.300

Cost €

568.390

Client

Private