This event was excellent and a packed audience, judging from Facebook and Twitter, enjoyed a lively debate of the ideas raised.
Graham Hogg and Alex Hobday presented a vison of a 'Nordic Scotland' which was challenging and different. You can listen to the audio below and download a copy of their presentation as well. However, it is worth understanding the background to this presentation, which sounds more like a manifesto. Judge for yourself.
Orkney sits at a strategic location within the Northern Periphery – a gateway for the Nordic region within a global context. Possible Orkney is a large group of projects at varying scales looking at how to integrate Scotland into this Nordic region through its exploitation of the shipping, renewable and tourist industries. The presentation will include the research and reasoning for Nordic Scotland's proposals on Orkney followed by the presentation of the architectural interventions planned and
a manifesto for a future Orkney, and Scotland, and their integration into the Nordic region.
We hope that this presentation will be something a little different from what is usually presented at Nordic Horizons meetings as we aim to show what we believe the future holds for Scotland if we induct ourselves into the Nordic region. We want to open up discussions with as many people as possible, and see this presentation as a kick-starter for that – we would also be interested to hear whether they agree with our vision for Scotland, or if they see something a little different.
Orkney, and Shetland alike, is a place steeped in Nordic history and culture, and is the perfect stepping stone to implement our Nordic influenced designs. 'Possible Orkney' is a project which looks at learning from our Nordic neighbours with one of the main conceptual ideas bringing all of these architectural interventions together developed in the Faroe Islands: Network City. This project is then split over 3 overlapping themes which brings all of these scales together: Migrating, Connecting and Inhabiting Orkney, with our designs creating a hub for a new look Northern Europe and Nordic region.