Six Cities Design Festival Centre, Castle Wynd, Inverness, until 3 June 2007

"New, Old, Green" produced by the Museum of Finnish Architecture.

HOUSING SEVERAL exhibitions in a newly transformed temporary space, the Six Cities Design Festival Centre at Castle Wynd provides plenty of stimulus for contemplation about the ethos of our built environment and opportunities for hands on activity.

Actually, like many others I found it difficult to tear myself away from the Claystation component. Who could resist a giant map, the chance to play with half a tonne of plasticine and remodel Inverness? Participants are also invited to fill out building consent forms stating what area they would regenerate in their city and why. Newly elected councillors take note!

New, Old, Green, produced by the Museum of Finnish Architecture, investigates sustainability, materials and construction in contemporary green architecture. Containing elements such as “My Eco Improvements” models constructed by local schoolchildren, the exhibition encourages the viewer to think about our design choices and how these relate to both our unique ecosystem and global concerns.

I found a series of images considering construction of living architecture using willow branches, earth construction, the space and atmosphere of building with recycled materials a great base for imagining what could be.

Asking the question of what “an eco tech house or building in the future might look like?” engages the creative imagination, which is ultimately the core of what the Design Festival celebrates. The role of design in problem solving and as a reflection of our lifestyles and beliefs is present in every facet of our lives.

Moving through this exhibition into Greenhouse/Blackhouse – New Housing in the 21st Century is therefore a natural progression. Projected images of entries for the 2009 Highland Housing Fair together with interpretative panels and models present the aspiration of a creating a new eco community in the Highlands.

Different zones on site will reflect different solutions to living; West: solar design; North: carbon neutrality; East: adaptation and recycling; and South: wood fuel and micro renewables.

Taking its inspiration from the Finnish Housing Fair, but placing sustainable design in a local historical and environmental context, this project highlights the qualities that have made the Highlands “known worldwide”.

The exhibition acknowledges that the “most recent housing in the Highlands carries little of that strength and character” and examines design heritage in dwellings of the past whilst looking to the building technology that will sustain and define our communities in the future.

Creative Highlands, a new group of local designers formed by Graham Grant and Charity Bowman, share the aim of “bringing together the creative community based in the Highlands at social and promotional events”.

The Creative Highlands group includes artists, architects, graphic, fashion, jewellery and new media designers, photographers, gallery owners, museum curators, filmmakers, art educators and facilitators, highlighting the strength and diversity of creative industries and micro businesses in the region.

Showcased here under the banner of ‘Creative Highlands Design HQ’ are some of the design members of the group including works in glass, jewellery, fashion, architecture, graphic and new media design.

The exhibition contains some striking pieces including a ‘Proposed Amphitheatre’ by architect Neil Sutherland with a sail-like canopy, an unusually textured wrist piece in oxidised silver by jewellery designer Hazel Passmore, retro leather and fabric fusion from Jennifer Cantwell’s Sporran Nation, and fused glass from Bette MacArdle’s Glass Opera.

Over the next few weeks the Design Centre will host a number of workshops for schools who will create new work for the exhibition, and a family event “Exploring Our Ecological Footprints” on Saturday May 26.

It will also serve as an information point for over 50 events being staged in and around Inverness on the theme of “Home Environment” as part of the first national Six Cities Design Festival.

The debate that this range of events, exhibitions talks and workshops will generate could not have come at a better time for the Highland capital. The chance for Scotland’s cities to host an International design festival places the work of our designers on a world stage and in a professional context. The current exhibitions reflect that scope; uniquely local, national and global.

© Georgina Coburn, 2007

Links

• Six Cities Design Festival