Kirsty Wilson

My design research project explores how an existing building which originally served Blairgowrie, and its thriving industry, can once again serve the town and community for its future needs through the method of adaptive reuse. The initial concept originated from the notion, ‘living locally in a global world’, where the effects and immense benefits have been witnessed and heightened due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The project therefore explores a forward-thinking co-working programme which provides a place ‘to work from home, that’s not home’, highlighting the many benefits of living locally. 

Heritage, place, and identity are key themes throughout the project, and became crucial within the design of the new layer within the buildings fabric. The design research project explores how an intervention can be sensitive to the identity of the mill while also fulfilling the required standards of the town today. The project can be viewed and understood at three scales, distant, intermediate, and intimate. Each scale presents an alternative aspect to perceive the project from, from its position within the landscape, its progressive future-thinking programme, to the sustainable factor of working with an existing building’s fabric.