Civic Stone: Kirkgate Square Part 1 Project 2024 Devon Tabata Edinburgh School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture | UK ‘Civic Stone: Kirkgate Square’ is a scheme for a new public space framed by a series of mixed-use civic buildings in Leith, in the port area of Edinburgh. Through careful urban moves, the project reintegrates Kirkgate House (a 1960s tower block) and a forgotten patch of land at its base back into the city. It aims to resolve a traumatic conflict between the historic fabric and a wave of unforgiving Modernist projects, stitching the neighbourhood together. To this end, new constructions activate the square with a street-like theatre, a small public library, and new social housing provision, complimenting the pre-existing commercial units.The project is interested in the everyday theatricality of the city and sets up a series of stages for this to take place: from a room, to the square, to the theatre itself. It recognises the idea of city as one of diversity, both socially and architecturally. Finally, the project experiments with load-bearing Darney sandstone as a local, low-carbon construction resource. Research visits were made to Hutton Stone and Darney Quarry in order to better understand its limitations and the processes it undergoes. The design of each element takes into account the quarried sandstone’s natural dimensions in order to reduce waste. Tutor(s) Kieran Hawkins Darren Park Nicky Thomson