The Crichton Project
Retrofit and extension of a former laundry building into a Centre for Memory and Wellbeing.
In 2022 O’DonnellBrown, in collaboration with White Arkitekter, were selected as winners of an open international design competition organised by the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland for a £15m cultural building located within the Crichton Estate in Dumfries and Galloway.
The new building will contain exhibition and archive facilities to increase access to the internationally significant Crichton Archive, research and support facilities and The Crichton Heritage Centre: enhancing people’s understanding of The Crichton’s 180 year heritage and innovation in the provision of mental health care and arts and health. The building will also bring together a new visual arts and exhibition space, an intergenerational academic study space and resource centre, and a land art archives and research centre.
Our winning design concept looks to repurpose and enhance the existing Merrick building to provide the opportunity to strengthen The Crichton’s legacy as a place where nature and landscape have historically been harnessed to support well-being. Central to our concept is the connection of people to place: our proposal hopes to place nature and well-being at the heart of the building that, being built from and into the earth, is in and of its landscape. We placed natural materials alongside a series of gardens and courtyards to allow the public to meander from building to space, while always framing views of nature.
Client
The Crichton Trust
Status
Feasibility