The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Wander round city’s wonders
heritage: Trail will showcase Dundee’s architectural highlights old and new
Think you know Dundee well? Then test your knowledge on the Dundee Architectural Trail.
Opening tomorrow, it’s a whistlestop walking tour of 27 of the city’s finest buildings.
The self-guided tour is part of the Scottish Festival of Architecture 2016, which reaches its grand finale in Dundee this weekend.
It was put together by Dundee City Council, the Dundee Institute of Architects and the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland.
Karen Cunningham, the festival’s director, says the walking tour is designed to create a lasting legacy.
“It’s important that it wasn’t just going to be a year-long celebration and then that’s that,” she said. “We want something people can keep on doing into 2017 and well beyond.”
The trail takes in some of Dundee’s finest buildings – old and new.
There’s the distinctive rounded shape of the Morgan Tower, opposite the Queens Hotel (also part of the trail) on Perth Road.
The Old Steeple and St Paul’s Cathedral are among the religious edifices, as is Dundee Central Mosque.
The city’s cultural quarter is celebrated in the Rep and DCA.
Its industrial and economic past and present are represented in The Courier Building, The Alliance Trust building and Customs House.
The tour also swings past structures that are yet to be built but are likely to become iconic, such as the new train station designed by Nicol Russell Studios and – of course – the V&A.
The brief is for it to be an easy introduction to the city’s architecture.
“One of the nice things about Dundee is that so many of its great buildings are packed into a relatively small footprint,” Karen continued. “The tour can be done in around 45 minutes, which is remarkable when you think it takes in 27 buildings.
“Doing the tour is healthy, because it gets you walking and we also want it to stimulate healthy debate about what is good and what is bad architecture.
“Young people have been enjoying projects like the BBC’s Build It programme and we want them to take part in the tour and develop an appreciation of good architecture.”
Leaflets mapping the trail will be available throughout the city and the map can also be downloaded on the festival’s website.
It reaches its conclusion in Dundee with the Festival of Light, running tomorrow and Saturday. Dundee’s oldest and newest landmarks will act as the backdrop for spectacular light shows. Even the under-construction V&A will be turned into a beacon of light shining over the Tay.
A 3D timber map of Scotland that was presented at the 2016 Venice International Architectural Biennale will be on show at West Ward Works, and visitors will be invited to take part in a torchlight procession between two of the city’s most iconic buildings, McManus Galleries and the Caird Hall.
Karen says there was no better choice of location for the festival’s grand finale than Dundee: “With everything that’s going on in the city at the moment – the V&A, the waterfront regeneration, the buzz that’s about the city – we really couldn’t have held it anywhere else.”