An Turas
Photograph of An Turas, Scotland’s Building of the Year 2003.
Courtesy of Mrs Claudia Ferguson-Smyth
Commissioned by Tiree Art Enterprises, An Turas (The Journey) was the result of a collaborative project involving artists and architects. The building won the Royal Institute of Architects of Scotland’s Building of the Year award in 2003 and was short-listed for the RIBA Stirling Award later that year.
The building is long and narrow and in three distinct sections. The first and longest is two parallel white walls open to the sky, which echo with the sound of footsteps. The second is a bridging black box with a wooden floor and low open slatted sides which reveal the rock and sand beneath.
The final section is a glass box framed in steel and floored with upright stacked slate. Protruding through a stone dyke, the box gives an unobstructed three-dimensional view of the surrounding landscape while sheltering the viewer from the elements.
Colour photograph of An Turas taken in the summer of 2006.
An Turas photographed in the summer of 2006 by Claudia Ferguson-Smyth.