Architecture: Scotland – The Scottish Poetry Library
I just came across a beautiful building - the Scottish Poetry Library by Malcolm Fraser Architects.

The mix of European Oak for siding with a steel and glass awning and the soft white exterior concrete steps is really well handled. The timber cladding is essential to the humanness of this structure and is a great example of working wood into modern architecture. You can learn more about the cladding in an article at the “Scottish Executive” website Scottish Executive” website .

At the entry notice the every-other-step steps that are big enough for seating. I imagine that they work well if you want to sit outside and read, talk or watch the street. They are also wide enough so that you don’t get tangled up with people walking up to the entry. The intimate scale of the whole stair system also helps to draw you in. Fraser has created a nice modern riff on a classical interweaving of 2 patterns of usage – stairs as place and access.

My only issue with the Scottish Poetry Library is that finding a decent picture online is almost impossible. There are only about 4 decently composed and exposed images of it online which is amazing given the number of awards it has been given. I clipped these excellent images by Keith Hunter out of the Brick Development Association’s [as 3.6 MB pdf ] “Brick Bulletin” of 2000

If you’re in Edinburgh and can work the library and your camera into an architecture tour of sorts, let me know. I’d love to either post some more good pics or link to them if you have them up somewhere online.

2006 Mid-Year Architecture Podcast Award
The Metrozoe award for best series of architecture and design podcasts goes to Ted Wells Living Simple. Architecture critic Ted Wells has put together intelligent and well thought essays on a range of subjects from what makes someone a client of modern architects to how Fallingwater has become the top rated house of all time. Another bonus is that these podcasts are short - usually ending before 10 minutes are up. That makes them perfect to listen to on your ride in to the city on BART or SEPTA.

Marketing Modern Architecture in Philadelphia
Having just moved to Philadelphia I'm wondering, "Where are the modern house tours? Where is the guide book to modern Philadelphia architecture?". I went to the Central Free library today to find a good guide book and didn't find anything like the kinds of books I can get for Los Angeles or San Francisco. Amazon didn't help much either. The same books were at the library.

From what I can tell the Philadelphia AIA doesn't put on the kinds of house tours that the SF AIA does. Here's a link to the SF AIA tours. Here's the Philadelphia AIA website for comparison. The SF AIA house tours are an excellent way to get inside modern and contemporary residences in the Bay Area. These tours along with the Sunset Magazine promos of modern houses have done a lot to create a public buzz for modern and contemporary architecture in the San Francisco Bay Area.

So there's this gap in marketing modern and contemporary architecture in Philadelphia. There doesn't seem to be a focused voice for it here.