Disaster area Dundee

SO, THE SHORTLIST for the Victoria & Albert Museum's outpost in Dundee has been announced, with one architectural practice from Scotland among them: Sutherland Hussey Architects of Edinburgh, already well known for their conversion of a church into art.tm in Inverness and for the Mansfield Park Building in Glasgow, the Burns Heritage Museum in Alloway and An Turas in Tiree.

The others are Delugan Meissl Associated Architects of Vienna, Kengo Kuma & Associates of Tokyo, REX and Steven Holl Architects, both of New York, and Snøhetta of Oslo.

The competition for the design of the outpost is, of course, for an iconic building that will attract lots of visitors to Dundee. The trouble is, the magnificent river setting of the city has already been ruined and one iconic building is unlikely to make it much better. Ever since Dundee failed to implement either James Parr's or Michael Laird's plans for the waterfront of the 1980s (see ArtWork 44), the development of the river front has been one continual mess.

First came James Parr's Earl Grey Hotel, which he originally designed without a single window facing the river (a design that was changed, as was the hotel's name: it is now the Hilton). Then came Tesco and Texas, both occupying prime sites. The latter has been demolished to become a block of flats, but is now just a vacant site waiting in the hope that the developer won't leave people who have put down deposits of £6000 out of pocket.

Then came the atrocious three-tiered brick building for Inland Revenue. That put paid to any idea that Dundee might have a proper transport interchange, combing the railway station with a new bus/coach station next to car parks.

The Inland Revenue building was followed by Discovery Point next to the final berth of Scott's ship, RRS Discovery. However, Michael Laird's circular building looks like a hat that has been sat on by Desperate Dan who is looking to see whether Dundee has anything better to look at.

Then came Sensation, the science centre whose triangular shape bears no resemblance to any other building in the area, and the more conventional office blocks close to the railway station. Mike Galloway, director of city development for Dundee City Council, admitted to ArtWork that these are so expensive to rent that they would most likely be used as government offices.

And now there is the redevelopment of the City Quay. Apex Hotels did a moderately good job on their building (even though the untreated cedar siding wears badly), but what has followed is disastrous - a series of vaguely post-Modern blocks of flats set in a wasteland of concrete with hardly a tree, blade of grass or decent piece of street furniture in sight.

Indeed, the blocks have been placed so badly that some completely destroy the river views of the others. And there is very little parking space.

The improvements, such as they are, include the demolition of the bridge connecting the eggbox-like railway station to the other side of the road network, the impending demolition of the Hilton Hotel and the 1960s leisure centre, and the impending demolition of Tayside House, another Parr design.

Sadly, the future of the Tay Hotel and the Harbour Master's House remain in doubt. It is possible that both will be demolished. About the only plus is that the Clock Tower in Camperdown Dock is being converted into flats.

So, if the building for the V&A outpost on Craig Harbour is a success and James Thomson's vision of a classical Dundee is realised between Discovery Point and the back of the Caird Hall (the proposal described by Galloway when he talked to ArtWork), they will only underline the awfulness of the rest of the city's waterfront.

Not a very Creative start

THE SIGNS are not particularly good - at least the logo isn't.

After an inordinate period of gestation Holyrood has at last given birth to Creative Scotland (the bolting together of the old Scottish Arts Council and Scottish Screen) and what we have to look at so far is not particularly inspiring.

OK, a logo is a logo, but for a body so involved in the visual world it is a pretty feeble offering.

Maybe the body itself will surprise us all and get the heather really blazing.

They are certainly starting at a difficult time. On another page in this issue our man in the North of England puts in a plea for mercy for the arts, but as he points out, the arts are going to have to join a long and hungry queue.

It is a situation in which Scotland's flourishing independent galleries need probably fear the future less than most artistic ventures. They have shown a real rapport with an audience that has been prepared to back them with their own hard earned cash.

Cloaked in mystery

IN THE ISSUE before last (ArtWork 160), we analysed the restoration and redesign of Dundee's McManus Galleries, a task undertaken by Page & Park of Glasgow. What we failed to notice was that the museum has no cloakroom for storing coats, bags, cameras etc.

Indeed, when we enquired at the reception desk where we could park such things it was if they had taken offence at the idea that the museum should provide such a facility. "We are not allowed to accept such things," they said.

Either the architects are guilty of an oversight or Dundee City Council couldn't care less about the comfort and convenience of the visitors to the McManus.

Whichever is the case, this omission needs to be rectified..