Former gasworks chosen as site for Eden Project Dundee
The Eden Project charity has announced its plans for its first ecological attraction in Scotland, which is set to be built on a disused industrial site in Dundee.
Eden Project Dundee will transform the city's former gasworks on the banks of the River Tay, close to Kengo Kuma's V&A Dundee, into a large verdant park.
The feasibility study for the scheme has been conducted by Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios and Nicoll Russell Studios with Eden Project's in-house creative team.
Attraction will be "powerful symbol of regeneration"
Eden Project Dundee is expected to centre around a series of walled gardens, built within the existing tall brick walls on the site.
According to the charity, this will offer a striking contrast to the area's industrial heritage – mirroring the design of the first Eden Project attraction in Cornwall by Grimshaw.
"The existing tall brick walls on the site suggested to the Eden team the potential to create walled gardens, making for a striking contrast to the industrial heritage of the gasworks," the charity said.
"Eden envisages this as a powerful symbol of regeneration, echoing the project's home in Cornwall which is located in a former clay quarry."
According to Peter Clegg of Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios, the aim is to also make the scheme net-zero carbon and offer "a haven for biodiversity in the city".
Centre will be themed around nine "guilds"
Like every other Eden Project attraction, the Eden Project Dundee will feature attractions that focus on humanity's connection to the natural world.
Its gardens and contents will be themed around nine "guilds", which nod to Dundee's Nine Incorporated Trades – a collective of individual trades that was formed in the sixteenth century.
Each guild will have its own Guild Hall, which will form the different experience zones for the site.
"Eden Project Dundee will draw on the history of the city's Nine Incorporated Trades and is themed around nine new 'Guilds' – of Healers, Growers, Navigators, Myth-Makers, Noticers, Alchemists, Celebrators, Menders and 'Re-Sourcerors'", the charity said.
"It is characterised not by specialisms, like the existing nine trades, but by providing alternative ways of perceiving the world."
These zones will include a high-tech area dedicated to new ways to grow plants and a space that showcases "story-driven experiences related to mining and its alternatives".
Dundee outpost latest in expansion plans
The Scottish outpost of the ecological tourist attraction is the latest part of the Eden Project's large-scale expansion plans.
Eden Project will now explore the practicalities of converting the industrial site and continue to develop a detailed proposal with Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios and Nicoll Russell Studios.
Elsewhere in the UK, the charity is also collaborating with Grimshaw on Eden Project North and Eden Project Foyle. The original Eden Project opened in a former clay pit in St Austell in 2001 and is recognised for its geodesic Biomes, one of which houses the world's biggest undercover rainforest.
Grimshaw is also developing six attractions for the charity in China, including one in Qingdao, and outposts in Australia and New Zealand.
Visual is courtesy of Eden Project.
Source: https://www.dezeen.com/