Exhibition showcases vision behind design of Scottish Parliament building
Enric Miralles: Creating the Scottish Parliament and other stories by Benedetta Tagliabue and EMBT opened at the Scottish Parliament on Thursday and will run until October 30.
Construction began on the Scottish Parliament in June 1999 on the site of an old brewery.
But the hangover from the devolution project lingered for years as costs spiralled and an inquiry found flaws in the management of the whole project. iStock Scottish Parliament. iStock
Now a new exhibition inside Holyrood showcases Miralles vision for the building, featuring more than 50 models and some of his early drawings.
These include hand-drawn concept images, sketches, collages, site studies, and competition boards from the Fundació Enric Miralles archives.
Barcelona-based architecture studio EMBT, founded by Miralles and his partner Benedetta Tagliabue, won the international competition to design the Scottish Parliament in 1998. They collaborated with Edinburgh-based firm RMJM to deliver a building that would reflect Scotland's identity.
Their design aimed to create 'a new Parliament that embodied the values of Scotland, a space rooted in its landscape, traditions and people.'
The work on display captures the essence of that vision, much of it developed under the leadership of Tagliabue following Miralles' untimely death in 2000. STV News Miralles exhibition. STV News
His work was carried on by his wife, who helped curate the free exhibition.
Benedetta Tagliabue told STV News: 'Through the archives, opening drawers, looking at the notebooks, reading things, was very emotional.
'But I tried to control the emotion and at the same time I love having all this material now on display to everybody.'
Get all the latest news from around the country Follow STV News
Scan the QR code on your mobile device for all the latest news from around the country
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Times
24 minutes ago
- Times
Police ‘harassed' pensioner over Gaza protest T-shirt
Officers have been accused of political policing, harassment and intimidation of a 78-year-old protester charged under terrorism legislation for allegedly wearing a T-shirt in support of the banned group Palestine Action. Mick Napier, co-founder of the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign, was arrested at a protest in Edinburgh on July 19 and spent a night in the cells before being released on bail on standard conditions. He said that during President Trump's trip to Scotland last month, officers had visited his home seven times, claiming they were there to remind him of his bail conditions. Napier's lawyer, Mark Harrower, has lodged a complaint with Police Scotland, claiming the actions were 'nothing short of harassment'. In it, he wrote that his client was a 'peaceful protester against the killing and starvation of innocent civilians in Gaza' who had been released on bail on July 22. Speaking to the Sunday Mail, he said: 'Since then, he has received seven separate visits from police officers at his home address to check whether he is aware of his bail conditions.' • Record number of arrests at Palestine Action protests across UK Harrower said that after the fourth visit, he had contacted the force to say Napier wanted the visits to stop. Yet they continued. The lawyer wrote: 'The only possible explanation for these repeated visits is to intimidate my client and his wife. 'Not only is this a huge waste of police resources, this behaviour makes Scotland look like it is turning into a police state. It is nothing short of harassment.' Harrower said that similar visits had been made to the homes of other protesters, raising concerns that police were becoming 'politically involved'. He said: 'It was clearly designed to intimidate them into not participating in any protests when Trump was in the country because it would've been embarrassing. 'It's really concerning. It curtails people's right to protest and freedom of speech and shouldn't be happening.' Palestine Action became a proscribed terrorist organisation last month after two Voyager military aircraft were vandalised at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire on June 20. Membership of, or support for, the group became a criminal offence punishable by up to 14 years in prison. Police Scotland said: 'We carry out appropriate checks as required in line with conditions imposed by the courts.'
Telegraph
2 hours ago
- Telegraph
Fringe venue ‘breaking law' by letting biological men use women's toilets
Women's rights activists have accused an Edinburgh Fringe venue of breaking the law by allowing biological men to use women's toilets. Underbelly Bristol Square, which is home to multiple small theatres, posted a disclaimer below the sign for the female bathroom telling attendees to 'use whichever toilet best fits your identity or expression'. The men's toilets display a similar disclaimer but individual cubicles appear to still be labelled 'gents'. The accusation comes after the Supreme Court said transgender women are not legally women in a landmark ruling. The ruling by Britain's most senior judges in April prompted new guidance from the Equality and Human Rights Commission, stating that although it is not compulsory for public services to have single-sex facilities such as toilets, it could be indirect sex discrimination against women if the only toilets provided are mixed-sex. The case was brought to the Supreme Court by the gender-critical campaign group For Women Scotland after two Scottish courts rejected its arguments that the Equality Act's definition of a woman was limited to people born biologically female. The photo was posted on social media by Alex McDonald, who said: 'My wife is incredibly upset by this. Maybe @edfringe could act and just remove them before @PoliceScotland get involved.' Mr McDonald added on X: 'Supporters of trans women in women's spaces and sports are generally holders of luxury beliefs; they've never been affected by what they believe in and are too removed from reality and what many people go through to care.' Susan Smith, from For Women Scotland, who brought the gender case to the Supreme Court, told The Telegraph: 'This is plainly unlawful. You can't have a sign like that. You can either have a mixed-sex space or a single-sex space. It's not possible to have both at the same time. It's either one or the other.' 'I think Underbelly is on rocky ground because something could happen in those toilets, like a sexual assault or someone even recording an individual undertaking their business. 'The law isn't optional; it's not something that you can elect to follow or not. 'Underbelly should remove these signs as soon as possible. If they fail to do so, then they could be flouting the law.' Helen Joyce, director of advocacy for human-rights charity Sex Matters, which campaigns for clarity about biological sex, added: 'The For Women Scotland judgment clarified the law concerning permissible sex discrimination in services and employment: it means biology, not paperwork or identity. 'There's no lawful basis for putting up male and female signs – for toilets, changing rooms and so on – and then declaring that you mean something other than sex. 'Organisations that fail to get this right risk enabling sexual harassment and ultimately being sued.' On Sunday, Underbelly Bistro Square included 57 events with genres ranging from children's shows, theatre, comedy, musicals, opera, cabaret and variety. Earlier, pro-Palestinian protesters disrupted a Fringe Festival event featuring John Swinney. The Scottish First Minister was being interviewed on Saturday by comedian Susan Morrison when the event was disrupted five times by six different groups of protesters. They called for an end to funding arms companies through Scottish Enterprise, the Scottish Government's economic agency. Mr Swinney told the crowd: 'I am absolutely aware of the horrors going on in Gaza. 'I use every opportunity to advance the arguments for a ceasefire and to get humanitarian aid and end the suffering of the people of Gaza.'
Daily Mirror
5 hours ago
- Daily Mirror
Nigel Farage under pressure to distance himself from 'racist' Ant Middleton rant
Ant Middleton - who has been close with Nigel Farage and posed with him ahead of Donald Trump's inauguration in Washington - said first, second and third generation immigrants should be banned from top government jobs Pressure is mounting on Nigel Farage to distance himself from TV hardman Ant Middleton after he was accused of "overt racism". The former soldier sparked an outcry after claiming that first, second and third generation immigrants should be barred from "top tier government positions". Middleton - who gave a speech at last year's Reform conference and has been linked with a mayoral run for the party - was pictured smiling with Mr Farage and treasurer Nick Candy in Washington DC ahead of Donald Trump's inauguration in January. The ex-SAS: Who Dares Wins host has said he will stand to be London mayor - and claimed to be "very much aligned" with Reform. Mr Farage now faces calls to clarify if he condones the remarks by Middleton or cut ties with him. It comes after a Nigel Farage watchdog probe was revealed to centres on a mysterious fishing boat. In an outburst on Twitter /X, the former Special Forces commando wrote: "Our Capital City of our Christian country needs to be run by a native Brit with generational Christian values, principles and morals coursing through their veins from which our very society was built, thrived and was forged upon." By Middleton's criteria, Winston Churchill, whose mother was born in Brooklyn, Boris Johnson and King Charles would not qualify for high office. Tory MP Ben Obese-Jecty responded on Twitter: "This level of overt racism shows who he really is once he lets the mask slip." He told The Mirror: 'After his starring role as a leading speaker at the Reform party conference last year, Ant Middleton's campaign to be the Mayor of London is increasingly being characterised with dangerous rhetoric that stokes division. "Given his prison sentence for assaulting a police officer and ban from being a company director over £1m in unpaid taxes he shouldn't even pass Reform's vetting process. With Nigel Farage claiming to be tough on crime he should clarify whether he supports the views of his likely candidate to be mayor of our capital; a man who doesn't even live in the country, let alone London.' A Labour Party spokeswoman said: 'These racist comments are completely unacceptable and have no place in our politics or our society. Nigel Farage has shared appearances at Reform UK events with Ant Middleton, but is yet to distance himself from these remarks or clarify whether he condones them. "Farage must urgently confirm that Reform UK will immediately cut all ties with Middleton.' Dubai-based Middleton, who was jailed in 2013 for wounding a male police officer and assaulting a female PC, vowed that if he becomes Mayor he will "prioritise the indigenous people" above all. In June he claimed rumours that Mr Farage was looking elsewhere for a candidate were "incorrect". He said: "We are still very much aligned and no such drifting away has happened. "However I have always voiced an option to run independently which may have been a cause of certain rumours!" He was loudly applauded at Reform's conference in Birmingham last September, when he was presented as an expert in security. Middleton told the audience: 'We are at a very, very important and crucial stage before it teeters into civil unrest, which we want to avoid at all costs, but it's coming. We're on that edge where violence has hit the streets, we've all seen it, I don't need to mention what it is, we've all seen it.' And voicing his support for the party he said: "I know enough about modern day politics to realise that it's not working here in the UK. Hence, the solution is in the title Reform." Last year Mr Farage posted a photo of himself alongside Middleton, who he described as "the big man". And he was snapped alongside Mr Farage and billionaire property tycoon Mr Candy with the White House in the background in January. The TV host was a controversial figure long before his appearance at the event in Birmingham. He was dropped by Channel 4 in March 2021 after tweeting about the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement. He moved to Dubai, telling GB News last year that people in the UK are "just stuck in a rut". In 2012 he body-slammed PC Christopher Brooksbank outside a nightclub and assaulted PC Katherine Alison. He was given a 14-month jail sentence the following year. He told The Mirror in 2015: "I was shocked by how I acted. I'm very ashamed of it, hence why I've put it behind me." And he said he had written to both officers to apologise. But he now claims he "never laid a finger on a woman". In March Middleton was banned from being a company director after his firm Sway and Starting failed to pay over £1million in tax. The Insolvency Service said he and wife Emilie were "taking millions of pounds out of" the company when they should have been paying tax. Sway and Starting, which provided media representation services, went into liquidation in 2022. At the time it owed £300,000 in VAT and £800,000 in corporation tax.
