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Speaking of Miralles: An Oral History of the Construction of the Scottish Parliament

Part 1 Dissertation 2021
Katy McGregor
Mackintosh School of Architecture | UK
'A building has a life that disappears when it is completed', Enric Miralles.

Knowledge and history often pass through physical manifestations, books, film, drawings. These can be kept and stored for years. Yet personal experience is fleeting. Oral histories provide a gradual unfolding of architecture and can also allow for alternative, marginalised voices to emerge. Those that can challenge prevailing views and unearth different perspectives. These narratives are more inclusive and open and can enable a fuller understanding of a building.

Buildings are often portrayed as the work of one architect. Generally, that architect is the person who was the lead designer. Yet on a building of any scale, there must be a team who collaborate on the design and the detailing and the inspection of the work. My study will be about the lost life of the building. Specifically, the Scottish Parliament by Enric Miralles.

The aim is to collect this together for posterity to better understand how this wonderful building was created. I want to explore that past life by making this Oral History of the construction of the building by interviewing the people who worked on the project. I want to collect the memories of that special time before it is all lost forever. So, I would argue that there is a fleeting moment in the life of a building that should be captured now or lost forever. That knowledge will disappear, and future generations of Architects will be poorer if it is not collected.

Katy McGregor

Tutor(s)
Florian Urban
2021
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