There’s a case to be made for the Union, based on a history of joint commercial endeavour and the shared fight for social justice.  But it’s been hard for the British Establishment to make as both have been traduced by its shared, neoliberal ideology.

So the Establishment’s business leaders and politicians – those who have unpicked civil society, supplanted our manufacturing base with financial services a....

A new survey in the Architect's Journal has revealed that two thirds of architects in Scotland are planning on voting for independence.

The AJ reports that " A hefty 59 per cent of the nearly 160 architects who voted in AJ’s recent online survey said they were in favour of the country cutting its ties with the UK – around 12 per cent above the number of yes voters in the latest YouGov poll of the general pub....

Lecture given at Architects for Yes meeting on 8th of September 2014

We live in times of constant change, but change is not the same thing as risk and if we want to have assurances about the future we really need to be in control of our own destiny. The starting question for architects in Scotland therefore has to be is this as good as it gets, or can we do better?

More than any other profession, architects are trained to a....

Architects for Yes are delighted to announce that we will be holding a public meeting at the Council Room, 15 Ruland Square, Edinburgh on Monday the 8th of September (tonight).

The event starts at 6pm and finishes at 8pm after which we will retire to a nearby bar H.P.Mather. to continue discussions.  It will be livestreamed here: https://new.livestream.co....

These headlines often make for uncomfortable reading, particularly for the most obstinate of 'nationalists', but cast aside any preconceptions you may have, and consider for a minute that these prophecies could be true;

1.  The financial institutions in Scotland will have no option but to move their offices and headquarters south of the border should we vote to leave the union 

Independence follows dependence, "being controlled by someone or something else".
What is Scotland dependent on, to be retained or rejected on September 18? Does the referendum address Scotland's future as having political integration with friends and allies, pursuing relentless distribution of opportunity, and eschewing royalty and aristocracy: a future suited to Scotland's core?

Philip Ball, in the book Cri....

Given Andrew Marr’s known perspective on the independence debate, his conclusion to last night’s illuminating profile of Hugh McDiarmid was remarkable: “Scotland today is culturally - never mind the politics - culturally - a nest of singing birds, a garden of delights. It is crammed with wonderful poets, novelists, writers of all kinds, artists, sculptors, composers, musicians. Culturally, Scotland is as self-confident as any....

Other people with far more expertise than I can offer have given their reasons why a Yes vote is so important.  So I would like to be philosophical.  At a (very) conceptual level, if our great ancestors had decided to 'remain in the cave' due to its perceived safety; not to strike two pieces of flint together; not picked up a lump of charcoal and scratch marks on a stone wall, we would not be here today. Inquisitiveness ....

Some of our members reveal reasons why they are voting Yes on September the 18th.

If you would like to share your reasons for voting Yes or why you think independence will benefit our profession and Scotland then please leave a comment on our declaration form or send us an email.  We would be delighted to share your views.

Thank you to the architects who turned out on a wet Calton Hill for our launch.  We&nbs....

Our built environment is crucial to the wellbeing of the nation’s population. It affects the quality of people’s lives, the best examples providing a sense of community, security and pride and the worst offering only dislocation, isolation, lowered expectations and poorer health outcomes. Architects for Yes believe independence offers us the opportunity to invigorate discussion about the kind of built environment the Scotland of th....

Architects could be at the heart of designing a new, better Scotland after a Yes vote. That was the message sent out by a group of Scotland’s leading architects who launched Architects for Yes at Calton Hill this Thursday at 1pm.

Malcolm Fraser, director of Malcolm Fraser Architects said, 

“I hope that this “Architects for Yes” initiative will resonate with our fellow Scottish architec....

Scotland is home to around 4000 architects, approximately three quarters of whom are members of the RIAS, their representative professional institution. Scotland has five schools of architecture, located in its four major cities. It has an executive, non-departmental public body, Architecture + Design Scotland and an architecture centre, the Lighthouse, in Glasgow. On the face of it therefore, the country has considerable riches in architectur....

Watching Alistair Darling being interviewed by Sally Magnusson on Reporting Scotland this evening was revealing. Wearing his shiny new curmudgeonly expression and obviously itching to repeat his standard - and only - script on the perils of currency union, our Al clearly didn’t expect Sally to be so firm and to press so hard on some of his more questionable mantras. He certainly didn't anticipate her asking him what his vision for a ....

Whoop-de-do! Another day, another UK government announcement of the big bucks it’s pouring into Scotland! It almost makes you wish the referendum process could be given an extension of time, right up until the next UK general election in 2015. Then we could be in the joyful position of watching the Conservative and Labour parties down south continuing to slug it out in order to show which of them can offer even more to Scotland after one....

So, you haven’t made it to the House of Lords yet? It can only be a matter of time, given that you’ve made a handsome contribution to one of Westminster’s three main political parties. Oh, your donation was to the Liberal Democrats in support of their plans to reform the upper House of Parliament? Sadly, that idea – just like their stated intention to get rid of student fees in England & Wales - didn’t pan out....

So let me see if I’ve got this right. It’s 19 September 2014 and a majority yes vote that every major polling organization somehow managed to fail to see coming has sparked off blind panic in the streets of Perth and every other city north of the border. Scottish readers of 39 southern-owned newspapers such as the Express, the Mail and the Times have been caught completely unawares, their daily litany of the horror pending having t....

As architects, we are trained to embrace change - indeed to anticipate, imagine and plan for it – and now we have an opportunity like never before to demonstrate our value to society and the nation.

You’d be forgiven for thinking that Scotland − facing a referendum on independence from the United Kingdom, and with the polls favouring ‘no’ but with all to play for − stands at the great, clichéd crossroads. But I think you’d be wrong. Whi....

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The National Portrait Gallery, like the National Museum, has also seen a substantial redevelopment which has reawakened a national treasure. It was already impossible not to be taken in awe by the wondrous central hall decorated with murals depicting the great acts of Scottish history, but Page/Park Architects have managed to bring the same degree of joy to the gallery spaces. De-cluttering the many alterations that had damaged the architec....

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I’m a great softie, especially for home and country matters: I can well-up just re-watching James McFadden’s wondrous goal for Scotland against France at the Parc des Princes, or at jangly pop genius Edwin Collins’ will to live and make music after a cerebral haemorrhage left him able to say only four phrases, repeated over and over: “yes”, “no”, “Grace Maxwell” (his wife’s name) a....

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