T&C – Page 11 – wandering architects

costa del solway and the garden of cosmic speculation

The lack of recent posts has been down to some decidedly summerlike weather (5 days without rain!) which has seen us in the garden and out at the allotment. Our seedlings are getting rather huge in the conservatory, although many of the ones that we planted out have been decimated by slugs! I finally added the roof to the greenhouse this weekend so with the addition of a door and an industrial load of gap filler we’ll be at lock up stage.

last weekend for the first of 2 may long weekends we headed south into the Dumfries region. We camped on the Solway Coast in one of those decidedly Brittish holiday parks, complete with green caravans, kids with buckets & spades and a decidedly underwhelming beach, although this one was much less garish than most and beautifully sited overlooking a little bay (above).

We walked from our campsite along the coast to the delightful Rocklciffe & Kipford (more boats – you have to feel for poor Chhay, having to put up with me) , past little settlements and ultimate natural smugglers hideouts (above) carved into the cliffs. We also found time to explore the atmospheric ruined Sweetheart Abbey and the attendant cute little town of New Abbey (below).

On the Sunday we headed back past Dumfries (itself an interesting if a little sketchy regional centre with great winding lanes and beautiful red sandstone housing stock) to the reason for our trip – Charles Jencks own Garden of Cosmic Speculation. Open to the public on only one day a year it is an esoteric, sometimes humorous sculptural post modern landscape treat. Curving grass helixes (below), mirrored ponds, obscure sculptures tucked into hidden groves (bottom) as well as complex hydrological features make for a fascinating place for exploring and it was incredibly popular – packed with the funkier edge of the blue rinse set.

While some of it was a little too post modern for my black skivvied taste, it is an amazing place, showing that there is more to the old critic than a few architecture tomes. As always more at our flickr

ardnamurchan peninsula

As Chhay & and I have somehow managed to keep each other entertained, annoyed or otherwise occupied for approximately the last eight years, we dumped our surrogate child Claire for a weekend on the Ardnamurchan peninsula.

We had a pleasant drive up on the Friday night stopping at the very elegant Kilcamb Lodge for a somewhat surprisingly fancy supper.

We were based in Acharacle which was an unpreposessing town at the edge of the peninsula. The surrounding countryside however was absolutely magnificent. Quite depopulated with hidden coves and bays and the odd sandy beach to surprise.

There was even the wildlife promised by the tourist people – chhay spotted badgers, hawks and multitude of deer.

We trekked out to the very end of the peninsula – which also happens to be the westernmost mainland point on Great Britain, alsthough the islands sitting just offshore don’t give you a great sense of achievement. Having satifies our extremism we hopped on a ferry for an afternoon in the very picturesque Tobermory on the Isle of Mull.(below)

On our last day we did a big loop up to the gritty ‘gateway to the isles’, Mallaig – a proper fishing town, with a proper somewhat stinky harbour. The road up however was breathtaking – starting with beautiful harbours complete with ruined castles, and hidden yachts, follwed by clear aqua water backed by snow topped mountains, more beaches and views out to the small isles of Eigg, Rum and Rhu with the brooding presence of the Isle of Skye in the background.

I spent most of my time over the whole weekend wildly speculating on boat purchases, as every turn revealed yet another brilliant opportuinity for sailing. I think a six month trip up the west coast of Scotland may be the fitting way to finish our time here so if anyone want to join in a couple of years just let me know!

moon water

We made a quick trip to Edinburgh on Friday night to see a performance of Moon Water by the Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan. Based on tai-chi it was a slow senuous piece enlived by water which seeps across the stage for the final scene allowing the dancers to splash and slide about, and creating powerful reflections of their movement. Overall, despite being quite magical at times the piece felt a little monotone, and wasn’t helped by the austerity of the musical accompaniment – Bach’s Suites for Solo Cello. Some of the movements also felt a little forced or awkward as the music moved at such a slow pace. There were brilliant moments however inluding a solo from one of the female dancers who stayed in the one spot in the centre of the stage with an intense focus of light intensifying her movements.

cloud gate

future loch explorer?

dory 1
In news somewhat remote from Scotland – Dad has converted our 18 ft rowing dory into a sailing skiff to add to his portfolio of boats. I think is perfectly suited to exploring the lochs of Scotland, however its location in the wrong hemisphere could prove tricky. I enjoyed the photos from its launch day however so thought I’d post them – and if anyone wants one for themselves let me know & I’ll put you in touch 😉

dory 2

dory bow

adam green at oran mor

We checked out Adam Green at Oran Mor a few weeks back. It was a great gig – he is totally nuts – kind of how I imagine the rat pack to be if they had access to today’s hard drugs. He obviously watches way too much pornography while creating his spun out dirty folk, as well as casually throwing in a hipster rock tune every now and then as though to show all the new rockers how easy it is.

tim & chhay's super scotland in a day tours

Having attempted to show Ashley Glasgow in one day – we then packed a mini cross section of scotland into the next.

First up was our trip to St Peters seminary that I have mentioned previously. Once we had finished with the modernist ruin we headed for more typical scenic country (although not before passing the Faslane nuclear sub base). Our first stop was for a quick introduction to the Scottish culinary delicacy of the bacon roll – one of the better propents of which sits by the highway at Arrochar. this lead to a tour of the west coast sea lochs – Long, & Fyne with a quick stroll around Inverary, before we cut across to the port of Oban for lunch.

In the afternoon we followed the coast road north past islands into the highlands proper. Returning through Glencoe,snow gave way to brilliant sunshine creating a magical atmosphere.

Cutting back towards Edinburgh we retraced routes from easter through the spectacular Pertshire countryside including Killin.

We even managed a quick stop in Queensferry for the Forth Bridge and a late dinner in Leith at Diner 7 – great food with a casual atmosphere and still buzzing at 10 pm on a Sunday.

My battery ran out at St Peter’s so will post some photos when I get them from Ashley.

southside

glasgow school of art detail, originally uploaded by tim&chhay.

Our friend Ashley from Brisvegas visited us a couple of weekends ago – having scored a free trip courtesy of Her Majesty. We had hired a car for the weekend, so after a coffee from our favourite weekday haunt where the monkey sleeps, we snuck up to the school of art building (above) & the CCA, before taking off to the southside – giving Ashley a rather skewed perspective of our Glasgow.
We popped in to the Queen’s Park famer’s market, wandered about at the tramway for a bit (although there weren’t any exhibitions open as they were preparing for gi), and as the weather was holding up, (and it has a Queensland architectural connection) we took a tour to the Burrell collection, and Pollock House & gardens.

With storm clouds gathering the wonders of vehicular transport let us also squeeze in a guided tour of the new Chipperfield started/Keppie completed BBC building courtesy of Claire, very crisp inside with an impressive red sandstone “street” rising about 5 storeys up through the central atrium.

bbc scotland, originally uploaded by tim&chhay.

Daylight saving even allowed us to wander about the merchant city for an hour or so before a late dinner at Grass Roots which was quite delicious, and a place we intend to return to.

gi lunches: highwire

red road

photo from GI website.

I’ve got a stack of stuff to catch up on after a few weekends away, but for now the next in my lunchtime Glasgow International investigations.

Today the CCA with the end result of last year’s highwire event. The footage itself was interesting but not all that powerful, despite the intense post rationalism of the failure the complete the walk in the booklet. Better were the enlarged negative images of the red road flats, with the path of the wire torn through the film. The presented a spectural, otherwordly view of the often derided tower blocks, which reinforced my impression of them from their starring role in the recent Scotttish film ‘Red Road’ which we watched last week.

Supporting info about the construction of the towers in the early 60’s and the slum clearances that accompanied them was also ineteresting – espcially the linen drawings and multiple references to asbestos.

gi lunches: jim lambie

jim lambie

Having missed all the free drinks at the various openings of the Glasgow International on Saturday due to illness, I have decided to scope out a few exhibititions at lunchtimes – the advent of spring sunshine supporting my endeavours for the moment.
First stop today was Turner nominated Jim Lambie at the often dissapointing GOMA. I was pleasantly surprised with his show ‘Forever Changes’, he has tranformed the entire space rather well, with a halucengenic striped floor covering connecting the works and showcasing the main exhibition space at GOMA in its best light. I aslo enjoyed stacks of vinyl enbeded in concrete titled sonic reducer.

st peters seminary, cardross

machine

One of the highlights of our mad dash across scotland with our friend Ashley last weekend was a visit to the abandoned modernist ruin of St Peter’s Seminary by the locally lauded Gillespie Kidd & Coia. Haunt of local neds, willful fire raisers, hidden glasgow photographers and Mackintosh School of Architecture disciples alike it is a powerful building in a beatutiful context, spooky in its abandonment.

The main hall is a spectacular space with tiered accomodation above a concrete alter now exposed to the sun (below), covered in debris and graffiti. We took one of Ashley’s friends from his course along for the ride – I’ve included his photos here – they’re much better than my efforts. Chhay in her retro manner did get some very atmospheric polaroids which I’ll scan and upload soon. Apologies for the image heavy post but I think they convey the building far better than my words.

More photos at our & daniel’s flickr

Alter, originally uploaded by dmmd303.

st peters, originally uploaded by tim&chhay.

Reflection, originally uploaded by dmmd303.