Pyramid at Loch Lomond among winners of architecture prize

Pyramid Viewpoint overlooking Loch Lomond was praised. Picture: Contributed

Eyecatching factory buildings, a pyramid overlooking Loch Lomond and a home built out of a collection of abandoned farm sheds are among winners of Scotland's most prestigious architecture prize.

The 11 winners of the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland (RIAS) award ranged from major business hubs to isolated look-out points and innovative houses.

Castle MacLellan Foods, in Kirkcudbright, scooped a prize for its innovative design of an industrial building, while the 135,000 sq ft office buildings at 1 West Regent Street, in Glasgow, showcased a way of preserving a listed building while transforming it into something modern.

Rural designs were well represented with praise for the Pyramid Viewpoint, a wooden stack first seen amongst the trees, offering only a glimpse of Loch Lomond through a long tunnel.

Visitors to the Forsinard Lookout Tower, in Sutherland, will be offered striking views of the blanket peat bogs and pools from a tower built like an oil rig on stilts above a solid base.

The Zinc-House, in Angus, used a collection of abandoned farm sheds on the site, while a striking glass box extension was used on the back of a property in Edinburgh known as ‘it’s bigger on the inside’.

Willie Watt, RIAS president, said: “It seems appropriate, in this RIAS Centenary year, that we have such a strong and diverse list of winners.

“Our awards celebrate the very best that is being built in Scotland. This is a tremendous list which goes in scale from a small house extension/reconfiguration to major education provision.

“Unusually, there are no Islands represented on this year’s list but geographically they extend from a factory in Dumfriesshire to a lookout tower in Sutherland.

“This is a list that fully demonstrates the privilege of living in our magnificent wee country and just how architects have embraced the responsibility that brings with it.”