Nathan - Cook House, Ardoch Fort, Braco

Ardoch Fort is the remains of a Roman Fort, built and landscaped in 70 AD with an extrodinary earth-rampart system that defines the site. The fort was built as part of the Gask Ridge: a defense boundry to protect Roman territory from Barbarian invasion.

The Fort is located in Braco, a small town on the banks of the River Knaik in Perthsire, Scotland, in the valley of Strathearn: an area of Scotland recognised today for its natural beauty and historic landscape, significant to Scottish heritage.

The Gask Ridge was a series of Roman Forts that acted as the front line of defense against the Barbarians occupying the Scottish Highlands. A primary function of the fort was the signal tower. This would be lit as part of a warning process for the entire defense boundry to alert an attack on Roman territory.

The camp has been the primary use of the site. The only other use of the site has been for farming purposes beginning in the 16th century to the present day. The fort however, has had only one other development: a Collegiate chapel with a crossing tower was built on the fort in the 17th century but was demolished in the late 19th century.

The aim of my project is to create a house that honours the extrodinary landscape in which it exists. An element that celebrates the values and qualities of Perthshires heritage, context and historic landscape.

The Cook House is a timeless element that will provide a landmark for sustainable community living.

Alex - Northumbrian Archives for the Intangible, Lindisfarne

The Northumbrian Archives for the Intangible Culture can be defined in many different ways. It has a material dimension: the performing and visual arts, craft, and fashion, media, film, television and video, museums, libraries and archives, design, literature, writing and publishing, the built heritage, architecture, landscape and archaeology, sports events, facilities and development, parks, open spaces, wildlife habitats, water environment and countryside recreation, children’s play, playgrounds and play activities, tourism, festivals and attractions and informal leisure pursuits.

However it also has a value dimension: relationships, shared memories, experiences and identity, diverse cultural, religious and historic backgrounds and what we consider valuable to pass on to future generations, the ‘intangible’ elements of Culture.

The Northumbrian Archives for the Intangible will provide a repository for the practices, representations, expressions, knowledge, skills that communities, groups and, in some cases, individuals recognize as part of their cultural heritage.

This intangible cultural heritage, transmitted from generation to generation, is constantly recreated by communities and groups in response to their environment, their interaction with nature and their history, and provides them with a sense of identity and continuity, thus promoting respect for cultural diversity and human creativity. Intangible Cultural Heritage attempts to preserve cultural heritage with the people or community by protecting the processes that allow traditions and shared knowledge to be passed on.

The Northumbrian Cultural ‘Archives’ will provide a space for meaning and memory that will bind individuals together. It will provide a space for a continuous flow of actions, narratives and memories from one generation to the next through the act of performance as the ‘living’ archive.