Grimshaw Reveals Design for Futures Institute at Dollar Academy in Scotland, UK

Architecture practice Grimshaw has revealed designs for the Futures Institute at Dollar Academy (FIDA) in Scotland, UK, an open-access learning platform developed by the Dollar Academy, one of Scotland’s leading independent schools. The Institute’s new building will receive the country’s first Living Building certification.

FIDA was launched in May 2021 to tackle fundamental challenges in education: providing equitable access and closing the poverty-related attainment gap; finding compelling alternatives to traditional teaching and exam systems; and addressing sustainability. The initiative invites young people across Scotland to participate in innovative projects rooted in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. These challenges include workshops, skills-based courses, design challenges, and competitions, all offered in-person and via an online platform to enable the broadest possible participation.

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FIDA occupies a site at the southern end of the Dollar Academy, within view of an 1819 Grade A historic building. The area is accessed by a network of pathways and is surrounded by botanical gardens. Heavily planted terraces, berms, ponds, and swales support the building’s water and waste needs while providing an invaluable educational resource and recreational environment.

The building aims to meet the criteria in the Living Building Challenge set forth by the International Living Future Institute. The design approach seeks to achieve an efficient structure in balance with the environment and its population. The economic structural form and material selection help minimize embodied carbon. Among other measures, the use of concrete is restricted to the foundations, and the building’s walls are constructed out of glue-laminated timber frames infilled with locally sourced stone in gabion frames. The geodesic dome is clad with insulated ETFE pillows and solid insulated panes with photovoltaic panels. This roof can maximize passive solar gain throughout the year with full ventilation capabilities for summer.

The interior space is meant to capture the sense of being in a highly tempered outdoor space. The ground floor is centered on an ample open space for projects and performances and is linked to the first floor by stepped auditorium seating. Workshops and laboratories line the perimeter with glazing providing transparency and openness. The first floor offers spaces for traditional and experimental gardens, and a flexible, partitioned classroom structure spans the open void offering a multi-use landscaped roof terrace.

Dollar Academy has a long history of encouraging students to explore the arts, which of course, fuels imagination and creative problem-solving. It’s now leading the way with a paradigm shift in learning to be shared as an open platform resource. Such an initiative requires an equally fresh approach to its future center, with an architecture that will support team working, collaboration, and exploring new creative, sustainable solutions that will empower and inspire the next generation to tackle the planetary problems we now all face. – Andrew Whalley, Chairman of Grimshaw and Dollar Academy alumni

FIDA also aims to become a driver for the local economy. It has partnered with Scotland’s International Environment Centre, Clacks Council, and Stirling University. With these partners, FIDA is exploring how a sustainable business accelerator could take the ideas generated by young people and turn them into reality, fostering entrepreneurism and empowerment.