Arts & Culture \ Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh

Please note; all the photographs and drawings describe our design of 1991. This no longer exists. In 2021 a "refurbished and extended" Fruitmarket opened. The new designs are by Reiach and Hall Architects and involve doubling the size of the building by expanding into the former nightclub to the west. Almost all of what we designed; the staircase, entrance desk, bar/cafe, front door, wc's, etc., have been destroyed. The first floor gallery has lost all its views out to the surrounding city and has been reduced in size at either end, and the east and west clerestories no longer exist. The new project cost £4.5M; our project in 1991 cost £350,000. We leave visitors to make their own assessment of the "impovements".

This was our description of the building as it was from 1991-2018:

The Fruitmarket sits in the central valley of Edinburgh adjacent to (and above) Waverley Station. Our original commission to facelift the gallery was greatly extended to undertake a complete remodelling. This involved the construction of a new roof which flies over the old parapet thus dramatically increasing the hanging height of the upper gallery. In the centre of the roof are large rooflights and under these is a new staircase connecting the two floors and also bringing light down to the lower level. On the ground floor the cafe and bookshop were relocated to the front facade which was opened to the street as a means of dissolving the threshold and tempting visitors into an intermediate space between street and exhibition. A section of the original stone facade was completely removed to form the new entrance at street level, and provide space for a hoist at the upper level. In the summer this can be transformed into a balcony by a sliding screen.