Scotland’s Perth City Hall to get a new look!

Info & Images: Courtesy Mecanoo Architects

Read Time: 2 mins 

.

Mecanoo architecten will soon be renovating the Perth City Hall in Scotland.

Perth & Kinross Council have appointed Mecanoo Architecten to renovate the Perth City Hall – a category B-listed building in Scotland.

 

Main area

Renowned for their sensitive approach to design, founded on observation of people, location, culture and climate, the architects will be transforming the building into a cultural facility with exhibition spaces, learning suite, café and retail space.  

The proposed program integrates design for unforgettable spaces that respond to current needs, yet which are also prepared for (un)predictable change. In the same vein, Mecanoo envisions the project as a means to create a new gateway to Perth; to its history and its pride. The scheme proposal seeks to re-activate Perth City Hall by a number of ‘light touch’ interventions that embrace the building’s beauty and character, whilst improving accessibility and reinforcing existing connections.

 

Learning centre

By increasing transparency on all elevations and providing levelled access, people will be encouraged to come inside. The public ‘internal vennel’ will allow the public to walk through the building with the possibility of entering the exhibition spaces and café. Inside the characteristic main hall, an inserted volume will offer optimal flexibility to exhibit Perth & Kinross Council’s permanent and temporary collections. The renewed public realm between the city hall and St John's Kirk will feature a comfortable seating area, whilst a new lighting scheme will thread the design for the building and public realm together.

Making the collections and rich local heritage more accessible, the architects, who have extensive experience with listed buildings, transforming them into inviting public spaces whilst retaining their original character (examples include Mies van der Rohe’s Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library in Washington, DC, Het Hof van Nederland heritage museum in Dordrecht, and New York Public Library’s Stephen A. Schwarzman Building), will work towards “conserving much of the historic building with an innovative and flexible design that will stand the test of time”.

 

Cafe

As Councillor Ian Campbell, Leader of the Council said: “Mecanoo paid particular attention to the needs of a wide range of visitors and the transformation of the area surrounding City Hall into an exciting and imaginative new venue - vibrant, inclusive civic space of which we can be truly proud.”