Balintore Castle near Kirriemuir in Angus - a little fixer upper taken on by David Johnston. The Baronial style castle is A listed and was designed by architect William Burn. Built in 1860, it was abondoned to dry rot in the 1960s and lay empty until 2007. Now Johnston is painstakingly returning the building to its former Victorian splendour and detailing the process in his fascinating blog. David explains ...

Did Sir Norman Foster get as much pleasure from designing The Gherkin as architect Robin Baker did from designing Birks Cinema in Aberfeldy? It seems unlikely. 'It's been such a privilege to work on this project and now that it’s finished it will feel like a bereavement. For the past 18 months it's been my life.' But Robin, who lives in Aberfeldy, will soon be able to watch movies at the state-of-the-art ci ...

If you are passionate about mid century design and architecture, you could do an interesting if unglamorous cultural road trip around Scotland to admire the works of Peter Womersely. The Yorkshire born architect contributed edgy and iconic buildings to places such as Selkirk, Coatbridge and Galashiels. Born in 1923, Womersley studied law at Cambridge after serving in the army.  One of his first commissions ...

If you go down to Valleyfield Woods in Fife you'll find a charming woodland with twisting walks, a tumbling burn and, in spring, carpets of snowdrops and bluebells. Look closer however and you'll find that you are walking in the ghostly footprint of a very different environment - once so vividly present and now almost entirely vanished. A fine classical mansion stood here, grand enough to cast Downton in th ...

Detroit is a city built for 2 million people. Less than a third of that number lives there now. Houses, public buildings, churches and schools stand empty and are crumbling into dust. Detroiturbex chronicles the unique experience of this once great American city including these 'then and now' images of Cass Tech - once a thriving focus of inner city education, now a picture of utter dereliction. Images of s ...

Innovative Polish architects KWK Promes have come up with ultimate in home security: a house that can transform itself into a featureless dark grey box.  Located on the outskirts of a small village near Warsaw, the stunning house was designed by Robert Konieczny for a private client and completed in 2009. The reason for the massive, wall wide external television screen (see bottom of post) is unexplained. P ...

Soon a third crossing will join the iconic Forth Rail and Road Bridges (below) in connecting Fife to Edinburgh. What should it be called? Make your suggestions over at namethebridge.co.uk. Image above by Paul Gibb.   ...

The project to bring a new museum and gallery to the ancient city of Dunfermline, which woefully undersells its impressive heritage, is making steady progress. The town was once Scotland's capital and is the burial place of Robert the Bruce. It's the home of Scotland's only saint, Queen Margaret, and the birthplace of Andrew Carnegie, the world's richest man and father of modern philanthropy. It was once al ...

Odd sort Coco Chanel. For some the epitome of the self made, independent working woman who released women from the tyranny of the corset, for others an amoral, rabidly anti semitic social aspirant prepared to dance with the devil, or at least the Nazis, to achieve her ends. What nobody disputes however is her absolute genius for design and the enduring influence she had on her contemporaries and everyone af ...

Doors Open Day for central Fife, which brings an opportunity to explore buildings not normally open to the public, is on Sunday 9 September. West Fife's day is on Sunday 16 September. Most of the buildings have stories to tell and many have more historical significance than passers by probably realise. In 1601 King James VI of Scotland held the General Assembly within the walls of Burntisland Parish Church ...