Architect's sketches will be a big draw

AN EXHIBITION of sketches by a leading Scottish architect is to go on show at the Edinburgh College of Art.

The college will be showing the sketchbooks of its alumnus, architect and President of the Royal Academy of Arts, Sir Nicholas Grimshaw, offering a rare opportunity to view initial and conceptual sketches by a leading architect.

Sir Nicholas studied at Edinburgh College of Art from 1959 to 1962 before winning a scholarship to attend the Architectural Association School of Architecture, from where he graduated with honours in 1965. Throughout his career, Sir Nicholas has developed his ideas and concepts in a series of A4 sketchbooks, revealing a particularly systematic approach to architectural design.

The sketchbooks contain drawings usually hidden from public view once the process of commissioning and construction is under way. The exhibition includes 62 A4 sketchbooks dating from 1982 to 2007.

The projects on display will include some of Sir Nicholas Grimshaw's best known a projects including the Eden Project in Cornwall and the International Terminal at Waterloo Station in London. The free exhibition will run from 1-12 March.