The Art Works at Granton, Edinburgh, pioneers a new model for public engagement with stored art collections. Designed for the National Galleries of Scotland (NGS), it puts display space and facilities for scholars alongside secure, environmentally controlled stores for around 250,000 works from Scotland’s national collection.

Open access and creative exchange
Far from a closed repository, the building is organised around a series of animated internal streets that encourage interaction between visitors, artists, researchers, curators and conservators. This deliberately porous arrangement fosters a “creative collision”, enabling new forms of learning, interpretation and discovery.

Surrounding the collection store is a rich network of accommodation, including public galleries, research, conservation and community spaces, digital exploration facilities and study areas. Together, these spaces allow a much wider audience to engage with the national collection, and reveal processes of care, research and interpretation that usually take place behind the scenes.

Sustainability and regeneration
Designed to Passivhaus standards, the building combines high environmental performance required by art storage and the gallery’s net zero goals with a robust and flexible architectural framework.

The Art Works is conceived as a catalyst for regeneration within the coastal community. Its presence will support local cultural, educational and training initiatives, and generate significant employment opportunities.

The Granton Waterfront development comprises thousands of new zero-carbon homes in a parkland setting. Occupying a pivotal position in the masterplan, the building will be a meeting place for existing communities to the south and new residents to the north. Arranged in adjoining parallel blocks of varying length, the complex defines new routes through the changing neighbourhood, while its finely detailed cladding of reflective metal alludes to the areas’s industrial history.