The best in Scottish housing design over the last 70 years is celebrated at a new exhibition at Aberdeen’s Marischal Museum.
From John A.W. Grant's model mining village of the 1930s to Sir Basil Spence's ill fated 'Hutchesontown C' tower block, the exhibition will review the changing character of housing in Scotland over the past decades.
It has been organised by The Saltire Society, one of Scotland's leading cultural organisations, who started the UK's first annual housing design awards in 1937.
Exhibits include original archive images, on-camera interviews with residents of award-winning schemes and contextual material explaining the changing faces of both housing policy and development, and domestic life over the years.
"In days when long term sustainability is paramount, it is important to reflect on the last 70 years and establish what qualities ensure longevity and make housing and places that will stand the test of time," said Karen Anderson, a member of the Saltire Panel.
"It appears that housing has replaced Education as the key priority of our government and although the provision of Affordable Homes is far from a new pre-occupation, there are new challenges that face us now.
"The huge market value of housing in rural areas and in our cities has led to an affordability gap which threatens to exclude the young from their own communities.
"Badly designed and sited housing, whether 'affordable' or not can widen social gaps and potentially detract from our precious built heritage and landscapes. We therefore need to concentrate our energies on designing housing that is truly integrated; that responds to context and enhances the communities within which it is located – physically and socially.
"Well designed housing can 'mend' fractured townscape and sensitively extend new settlements. Such development requires streets that are children, pedestrian and cycle friendly, not housing layouts determined by roads standard. "
The exhibition – The Test of Time: 70 Years of Saltire Housing Awards – will run from 5-28 October at the University of Aberdeen's Marischal Museum before moving on to The Lighthouse in Glasgow.