Eden Court Theatre, Photography and Architecture

As promised, I have been back to Eden Court Theatre to take more photographs of the very unique building. The majority of the things I photograph are either monuments, graveyard photos, or Gothic Revival and other historical architecture, but Eden Court is far more modern by comparison, and a lot less stereotypically Goth. Eden Court is actually named after the Bishop's Palace which still stands and is linked to the modern theatre building - that building is Gothic Revival, Victorian and recently restored, but appears to be administration and offices for the theatre, and I'd feel a bit strange walking across the grounds to photograph offices where people are working. 

Eden Court Theatre and Cinema 

Eden Court was opened back in 1976, and was designed by successful architect Sir James Dunbar-Nasmith. It wasn't his first or last theatre project, having already worked on the Dervaig Arts Theatre on the Isle of Mull, the Loretto School Theatre, and then Pitlochry Festival Theatre three years later and then on the 2000 refurbishment of the Birmingham Hippodrome. I've always thought designing a theatre must be a particularly difficult challenge because of all the specific facilities associated with a theatre, and then the need to have good acoustics and for the audience to have a good view of the stage, plus it is a building where you are going to have a whole crowd of people in one big room, and those people need to be able to flow in and out of the building. 

Shown Previously On This Blog. Angular Railings.

The building was refurbished and updated between 2005 and 2007, and I don't know what it looked like before its refurbishment as I did not live here at the time, but currently it looks exceedingly contemporary now. I love all the different textures and forms of cladding on the building, it manages to have a huge amount of interest and detail for a building that is not ornamented in the way the buildings in historical styles that I tend to photograph do. The picture above has been shown before, but I think it really highlights the sort of interesting angular shapes and pattern that can be found on this building. 

Leaden skies and sharp angles.

Eden Court is faced with dark cladding that seems to blend well with the leaden skies that often hang above Inverness, and while it is angular with crisp edges it seems to blend in well with its surroundings, and even not clash hugely with the Gothic Revival building of the Bishop's Palace. The landscaping around it definitely helps. The back of Eden Court is painted yellow, with blue on the roof... Personally, I think the colours are a bit garish, but I have never been a big fan of painting buildings bright colours, except in the case of those rows of terraced houses where each one is a different colour -those are very charming. 

Eden Court has the most amazing roofs.

My architectural photos are tending towards details, parts of buildings rather than whole. I look for parts that are striking or interesting. It is tricky to get a composition that fills the two dimensional rectangle well when buildings are inherently three-dimentional. Often reflections and skies help me out a lot! It seems very un-creative of me photographing buildings - the beauty comes from the hard work of the architect, I just work to capture it in interesting ways. 

Light and Reflection.

I'm certainly not going to give up photographing buildings any time soon. I really appreciate and enjoy the wonderful structures I encounter and my photographs are my tribute. I will probably go back to Eden Court again, probably to see something at the cinema or theatre there, and I will probably take more pictures. In the meanwhile I will take more pictures of other places in the Highlands - probably of Inverness city from my next trip in, but possibly of elsewhere too. 

Gothic Style, Architecture and Modernity

This is another old blog entry being recycled and scheduled. I have a nasty cold and am unwell at the moment, so I am trying to concentrate on getting better rather than on new material. That said, I am scheduling new blogs as well as recycled older entries. This blog is from February 11, 2008.

I've seen some gorgeous examples of gothic architecture recently, and some less successful modern attempts. I am close on believing that 'Modern Gothic' is an impossibility and oxymoron that can not be turned into a feasible actuality, but there are a few things that hold me back from this decision.

The obvious thing, one might imagine, is the proffusity of Goth items, but actually, this is not a factor. Many of the Goth (as in the modern subculture, not as in the architectural/artistic style I am simultaneously discussing. As far as this blog goes, 'Goth' refers to the subculture of the dark, and 'Gothic' as to the artistic style.) items I see on sale are tawdry and overly theatrical, with no real beauty, and a tendency to look like caricatures of horror film props, rather than actual accessories.

That said, if one looks hard enough, there are things to find that are a long way from fancy dress and Halloween, items of real craftsmanship, and it is the fact that there is still real craftsmanship in the world that gives me hope. The gothic style is grand, but it relies on top-level craftsmanship, and a balance between grandeur and detail to work, and anything else ends up looking overly theatrical, fake, and unconvincing.

I was, as I try to do every week, watching 'Grand Designs' on Saturday [the previous Saturday to February 11th 2008]. I have long dreamed of building my own home, so it intrigues me. This week the house in question was an amalgam of Gothic and modern, and although the building is not finished in the details, and I may be being quick to judge, I am not big fan of the result. I don't think it is an awful building, but I will not be ringing Handel up for a new chorus anytime soon. It has some amazing space, such as the octagonal dining room, and the gorgeous stairwell with the grand oak staircase, and they have made some things work quite well.


I don't think gothic can be done in half-measures, but this is a matter of my personal taste. I personally feel that one must either go for the Gothic gestures such as this family's carved fireplace and gorgeous oak staircase throughout, or go for the modern look throughout a building, and that combining the two is a balancing act too tricky to work unless one approaches the building with a unified modernised gothic style, rather than incorporating individual elements of both.  I, as have mentioned before, rather like traditional buildings. I also like modern buildings, and I think there is some amazing technology around today that gives the opportunity to build some amazing buildings. I'm looking forward towards seeing what will be built through the course of my life, and maybe, if all goes to plan, I can raise enough money to build some sort of scaled down gothic farm/house in the country somewhere... I do not want a mansion, it would be too much upkeep, but I would like a beautiful building, because I think all things should beautiful.