From festivals of light and architecture to luminous origami birds and Harris Tweed celebrations, VisitScotland has announced 28 events and activities that will make up its Year of Innovation, Architecture and Design 2016.
The year-long celebration will showcase Scotland’s greatest contemporary assets, innovative icons and hidden architectural gems. It aims to inspire visitors to get involved and explore Scotland’s heritage as the home of ground-breaking scientists, engineers and architects that gave the world the telephone, the first cloned sheep and the iconic Mackintosh raincoat, invented by Scottish chemist Charles Macintosh in 1823.
Programme highlights taking place throughout 2016 include:
SPECTRA – Festival of Light in Aberdeen (11 – 14 February)
Edinburgh International Science Festival – including a Tiny Home Trail (26 March – 10 April)
In Vogue – a fashion show of the centuries at Stirling Castle (14 – 15 May)
Ignite – celebration of creativity in the City of Design, Dundee (6 – 30 May)
Luminous Birds – art installations encouraging communities to celebrate their surroundings in Aberdeen, Dumfries & Galloway, Glasgow (dates TBC)
Craft Scotland – Meet Your Maker, Scotland-wide (April – December)
Clo Mor Festival of Harris Tweed in the Outer Hebrides (August – October)
World Canals Public Programme in the Highlands (19 – 22 September)
Building Blocks at Glasgow School of Art (throughout 2016)
This programme of 28 events joins one of the year’s main events, the Festival of Architecture, a year-long celebration showcasing Scotland’s fantastic buildings, old and new. Over 400 events and exhibitions curated by the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland (RIAS) will take place throughout the length and breadth of Scotland. www.foa2016.com
The Festival of Architecture will kick off in March 2016 with the inaugural ‘Hinterland’,a night-time public art event where public arts organisation NVA invites audiences to experience Scotland’s most important modernist building, St Peter’s seminary in Cardross, Argyll & Bute. Exactly 50 years since the iconic building was first opened, audiences will have a unique opportunity to discover one of Europe’s most important buildings ahead of its reclamation as an international platform for arts and heritage set to open in 2018. Audiences will walk through atmospheric, semi-ancient woodland to discover stunning architectural details of the seminary buildings concealed beneath debris for the last 25 years, re-animated with monochromatic light installations and a specially commissioned choral work performed by St. Salvator’s Chapel Choir from the University of St Andrews. The Hinterland event opens on 18 March 2016 and runs to 27 March 2016. Tickets go on sale 2 December 2015 on www.hinterland.org
Other key events for the Festival of Architecture include:
Ideal Hut Show, touring across Scotland, May to September
20 standard model garden sheds will be transformed and customised by leading architects, artists, designers and celebrities from Scotland and abroad. The sheds will be on display in venues including Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh and Glasgow Botanic Gardens.
Pop-up World Cities Expo, Mound Square, Edinburgh, 16 June – 16 July
An inspiring group of international cities, alongside a selection of Scotland’s cities, have been invited to design pavilions to be located in Mound Square. The exhibition builds on the universal success of temporary pavilions and the popularity of present-day pop-ups. Architects have risen to the challenge of creating innovative and engaging pop-up designs that will capture the public’s imagination.
Scotstyle, across Scotland, throughout 2016
Celebrating 100 years of the best of Scottish Architecture, Scotstyle features ten buildings from each decade of the 100 years from 1916-2015. The exhibition of photographs of the top 100 buildings will tour Scotland throughout 2016. The selection of the 100 buildings will be from public nomination, informed by an expert panel. The list will be announced on the 7 December 2015.
Scotland’s Year of Innovation, Architecture and Design will begin on 1 January 2016.
Join the conversation with the hashtag #IAD2016
