CHARLIE SUTHERLAND
Charlie Sutherland studied Architecture at the Mackintosh School in Glasgow. Upon graduating he joined the office of the late Sir James Stirling and worked on a number of international commissions and competitions including the Tokyo Forum, The Paris Library and the Temasek Polytechnic, Singapore.
In 1997 He established Sutherland Hussey Architects with his long term colleague, Charlie Hussey, and completed a number of award winning small scale projects all over the UK
He was elected as a fellow to the Royal Scottish Academy for Art and Architecture in 2011 where he is active on a range of committees to promote the links between education and the Academy and was awarded an Honorary Professorship at Glasgow University in 2013.
As the architect, Charlie Sutherland believes the buildings reflect an ethos of diversity rather than specialisation. His approach to all projects is to start from first principles, addressing each design problem objectively. It is believed that through omission of preconceived ideas the process will always throw new light on the creative potential of the program and site.
It is great to have the opportunity to attend the PAM Talk hosted by Architect Charlie Sutherland. After the lecture and the buildings that he shared, the first impression about his works is he is really doing good between the environment and the building or else we can say working with the site context. He has designed the building that really interact with the surroundings and achieve the harmony with the nature.
An Turas Tiree
This is one of the projects designed by Charlie Sutherland and his team. An Turas is in, and of, the landscape and the place, it is that which gives it its meaning. It is both a building and an art work, a landmark and a symbol. This is the building attract me so badly in so my projects. For me this building is perfectly "working" with surrounding to show the beauty of nature.
An Turas in Irish means "The Journey", it is located near to the pier. This structure is designed as a "shelter" for those intending to board the island ferry. Conceived in three parts it is hoped the structure will reflect some of the qualities of the island, distilled as a line in the landscape, the white walls, the bridge and the glass box.
The long, narrow shelter is composed of three elements: white walls, a bridge, and a glass box, the latter facing towards the water and the nearby pier. Both the white walls and the bridge act as path, leading one toward the glass box shelter which projects slightly from a traditional, dry stone wall.
This building is surrounded by the nice scenery and sea, some might think they should use transparent material as the wall to enjoy the view but not the solid concrete wall. For me, this design and the path do tells story, "live in the moment", we would appreciate what we have seem within this narrow path, the sky in no longer infinite.
Intended as a shelter, more so An Turas becomes a place to experience the beautiful landscape of the island, especially the striking sunsets. From the open-roof beginning to the glass box framing the surrounding and providing respite from the rain, the small building exquisitely relates to the landscape and elevates waiting for the ferry into a poetic act.
Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop
This is also one of the projects from Charlie Sutherland and I'm really interested on this building. Basically this building is a public arena to complement the adjacent Workshop facilities in the Bill Scott Sculpture Centre. It is intended to be a significant public space to promote art in the city of Edinburgh. This building is designed based on the requirements for an artist workshop.
Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop offers a base for the artists providing low cost studios, exhibition spaces and workshops. This building is slightly different with the An Turas rather the scale and size is bigger and also the functioning of them. All of the spaces are well-designed based on the function. The spaces provided not only for a single purpose but multifunction.
From the exploded drawing, we can clearly see the space planing. This building designed with a lot of opening that could allow the light. There is also a centre courtyard as the workshop or the working area for the sculpture artist. There is also provided the private area for the artists who stay there, the area is separate from the workshop and the cafeteria by having the different entrances.
The sunlight pass through the opening and shadow shown
This is the most interesting part in this building from my perspective. The exhibition area not only for the exhibit purpose but will turn to the normal balcony when there is no exhibition over there.
Conclusion
Mr. Charlie Sutherland show us some of his project and these two projects really inspire me in my design studio for designing a artist village. In his projects I found there is not only design follow the function but also the senses and feeling that the spaces gave.
From the An Turas, I know that how important is the building working with the environment and the feelings given from the building. The well-designed by fulfil the requirement for a workshop and provide a space for the purpose gave me the idea how to treat the spaces and find the balance between function and aesthetic/appearance.