Architects in line for top design awards

From a centre for Scottish war blinded to a mental health unit in Fife, to the refurbished MacManus Galleries in Dundee and the new Scottish Ballet HQ, an extraordinary array of Scottish architectural projects has been shortlisted for Britain's top regional architecture awards.wards

Staff said an "unprecedented" list of 17 buildings from the last several years had made the shortlist for the Royal Institute of British Architecture awards in Scotland.

The projects are often modest in size and cost but were praised for high-quality architecture emphasising sustainable materials and natural light in an economic climate that has seen fewer major projects commissioned.

"The majority of the architects who are on the shortlist are smaller practices and of great quality," said Neil Baxter, secretary and treasurer of the Royal Institute of Architects in Scotland, which oversees the awards. "It's smaller works being executed quite beautifully.

"We are undergoing something of an architectural renaissance in Scotland. We have probably the best and most consistently high quality generation of architect designers in Scotland that we have had for a century."

The list ranges from single homes, like the 1960s bungalow converted to a "super-insulated" carbon-neutral house in Roslin by Riach and Hall, to RMJM's designs for Edinburgh Napier University in a 60 million campus overhaul, again with an existing building "over-cladded" for energy efficiency.

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The Stratheden Mental Health Unit, designed by Richard Murphy Architects in Cupar, Fife, was cited as an example of architecture that can impact health.

Interviews suggested the two single-storey pavilions designed for NHS Fife had helped make patients, some with neuro-degenerative diseases, "happier, more contented, calmer, more relaxed", said Mr Baxter.

The Scottish War Blinded Daycare Centre in Linburn, West Lothian, by Page/Park architects, was praised by judges as a "sophisticated and elegant building" with an easily understood internal layout of rooms off a single broad spine.

The social housing project at Dunoon, by Gokey Deveci Chartered Architect, was a "colourful landmark that can change your mood", said Daphne Thissen, the cultural attache at the Royal Embassy of the Netherlands and an architectural historian who helped draw up the list.

Several of the projects are likely to win RIBA awards. "There is a quite European feel about Scottish architecture. The use of material was quite distinctive and the huge, huge windows getting natural light in," said Ms Thissen.