The Edinburgh UNESCO City of Literature Trust is calling for architects and designers to bring their expertise and creativity and enter a competitive Tender process to work with the Trust to create a Literature House for Scotland at John Knox House in Edinburgh.
The development at John Knox House would be part of a wider ambition to enhance the Literary Quarter around the Netherbow area of the Royal Mile and invest in and develop the Scottish Storytelling Centre.
Apply here by 12:00 BST on 26 October 2020
Alison Bowden, Director of the Edinburgh UNESCO City of Literature Trust, said:
“We’re excited and pleased to be entering this next stage in our long-term cultural development plan for John Knox House and the Scottish Storytelling Centre. We’re looking for a really excellent and inspiring design team to work with, and people who understand how special the location is and how important these buildings are to Edinburgh.
Once the team is appointed, our priority will be to complete some feasibility work so that in 2021 we will be able to present detailed ideas for the future of John Knox House and the Scottish Storytelling Centre. Working together with the Church of Scotland (who own both buildings), the City of Edinburgh Council, Traditional Arts and Culture Scotland, and the local community, our hope is that we will transform the way Scotland understands its literary story by reinvigorating this magnificent and historic building, and giving it new purpose as Scotland’s first Literature House.”
The Literature House will be the home of Edinburgh’s literary story. It will provide a year-round welcome with information, ideas and inspiration to help you connect with Edinburgh as a literary city, and Scotland as a literary nation. This is the place to discover Scotland’s literary heritage and contemporary creativity, and learn more about our incredible books, storytellers, and writers. The House will be a dynamic space where contemporary design and historic architecture meet to create an evolving, immersive reading experience, bringing alive great Scottish writing, past and present.
The Literature House development would also bring investment in the Scottish Storytelling Centre and widen the reach of an award-winning arts venue. The buildings are at the heart of the Literary Quarter, in the Netherbow area of the Royal Mile, a glorious honeycomb of buildings, closes, gardens and streets in Edinburgh’s historic Old Town.
Working with the local community, the ambition is to improve the environmental setting to create a haven where people can connect with Scottish books and literature in traffic-calmed areas that have seating for readers, new artworks, inscriptions and digital interfaces. It would provide a year-round information point for the world’s first UNESCO City of Literature, to encourage people to explore the literary city and literary Scotland more widely.
