CLYDE EXHIBITION AND DANCE CENTRE

Located in the central island of the master plan, this building punches through the rigid urban layout to provide a roof acting as an open square that cantilevers over the rivers edge. Its fluid form of ramps and structure not only suggest movement but also allows access to the waters edge and intermediary levels that are steeply set below the island's busy Main Street. Inspired by traditional boat construction, timber cladding is used to merge the curves of the building's structural frame into a solid form defined as two horizontal planes that once again contradict the verticallity of the dense urban background in which the site is set. Between these planes is the main exhibition space. It is an uninterrupted 'glass box' defined only by the buildings primary structure which initially took reference from the iconic Glasgow crane that once dominated the river's edge in the bygone years of the city's booming shipbuilding industry. Below this space and drawn in from the waters edge are more private rooms that are intended to serve as dance studios which either look over the river or into a privately accessed courtyard that can also be viewed from the above street level. As such this building serves several functions from the roof that acts as an 'open' square, to the adaptable exhibition space within and the dance studios below as well as serving as a means of public access to the variety of levels the island offers. In short this building provides a relationship with the city and its natural surroundings that is as dynamic and fluid and transparent as the form of the building itself.

-Stuart Robertson-