Scottish Photographers' Gallery Part 2 Project 2007 Nick Dalgety Mackintosh School of Architecture | UK The project proposes a permanent home for the Scottish National Photography Collection a place where visual records of Scotland can be stored, maintained and displayed to the public. The building adheres to existing building lines, with a ‘wall like’ form completing the urban grain of the Old Town. The ‘wall’ terminates in a tower, signifying the gallery’s importance as a National Building to the rest of the city. The tower holds the National Collection encased within an environmentally controlled archive that is operated on an automated logistical system. The tower will complete the elevation overlooking the New Town, maintaining the theme of grandeur and drama. It is an almost impossible task to get a modern building through planning anywhere near Princes Street Gardens in Edinburgh. The major challenge is to demonstrate that contemporary architecture does have a place in the heart of an historic city even one as precious as Edinburgh.Combine that with a programme requiring little or at most very controlled natural lighting and elevations can be very difficult to resolve.This project turns the programme on its head and uses the archive as a marker similar to Walter Scott Monument across the gardens only this monument has a filling!