Livingston architecture: past and present

Livingston architecture: past and present
Livingston architecture: past and present

We employ basic, existential concepts to help us navigate the intricacies of the site, sustainable detailing allied with modern design, with an emphasis on respecting the clients and the natural surroundings in which we operate at all times.

We will take you through the Livingston architecture of the previous decades to contemporary dates.

How a nontraditional Scottish architect made Skater Paradise out of the City of Livingston

You could think that Central Belt Scotland and the Golden State of California have nothing in common if you have never been to either. But in Livingston, there is a building that seems like it was transported there from another planet via the Pacific Ocean.

Steve Urquhart, the documentary's director, said that despite being "practically concealed in the terrain," the site is "vast" once you "get there" and "walk up a short hill."

Livingston Skate Park, or "Livi" as it is more commonly known, was the brainchild of Steve's uncle Iain and first opened its doors to the public in 1981. There's a "moonscape" quality to it, as Urquhart puts it.

Contemporary Skate Park

The area includes modern design and is now covered in graffiti that wasn't there on day one, and on weekends, hundreds of people ride their skateboards, scooters, and bikes there. One reviewer said, "It looks quite nasty; there's a lot of graffiti that wasn't there on day one."

Although Livingston is an unlikely location for a skatepark that Tony Hawk has called a "legendary place," it is in some ways impossible to imagine it in any other place.

Urquhart was researching for a recent BBC documentary called Curves and Concrete in anticipation of the upcoming 40th anniversary of the sport and the first Olympics to feature skateboarding.

Livingston as a post-war optimism spot

A community that had lain abandoned for 800 years was transformed into a concrete utopia by the time the first residents moved in in 1966. Livingston was one of the new towns established in the spirit of post-war optimism and urban regeneration.

Urquhart claims that the new Livingston community provided funding for public art, which "seems ridiculous now for a little town in central Scotland," and that elevated pavements protected residents from passing automobiles.

Livingston architecture and skatepark design projects

Steve, who was born and reared in Carlisle but worked as an architect for the Livingston Development Corporation out of Edinburgh in the 1970s, has warm recollections of his uncle Iain, whom he remembers as a bearded enthusiast who smoked a pipe. Because of him, I was the first in my class to play with a Rubik's Cube.

It was "explicitly his responsibility" to "discover and produce fresh and fascinating, strange, and quirky things for people to connect with, especially younger generations," the author adds.

As an avid rollerblader and skateboarder, he recognized that the sport's meteoric rise to popularity in the early 1970s had not been accompanied by the construction of well-designed skateparks, so he devised a trail that looped the city and encouraged visitors to run, jump, and swing on a climbing frame as they explored.

First steps in designing the Skatepark

Skateparks are a California phenomenon that never made it to Scotland until recently, since it took some doing to come up with a plan that would work for skaters.

Before Livingston, ramps were "more of a rule of thumb, basically just improvised—this project was completely planned out." Local authorities were responsible for putting wooden boards in parking lots.

Still, Iain talked to local skaters to find out what they wanted, and he visited skateparks in California to get a feel for the kind of terrain he wanted to design. Livi stands out from other skateparks due to its ambitious design, seamless transitions between sections, and attention to detail, such as the precise amount of slope needed to get a skater up to speed for a bowl or ramp.

"He never did things by half," Urquhart says of his late husband. "I didn't appreciate how much energy he had and put into everything he did."

Urquhart alleges the individual was "unwilling to take a risk" when he oversaw the installation of the concrete at the location where it was used, forcing him to get "on his hands and knees on the wet concrete" to make it plain what he intended.

And Urquhart said that "the brilliance and craftsmanship of the guy just appeared to ooze out of him," and that the hand-drawn and annotated designs for Livi were a perfect example of Iain's sweeping style.

Public figures in the town

Skateboarding's initial surge in popularity had worn off by the time Livi opened its doors in 1981, despite the fact that building Livi was financially very difficult. However, its notoriety grew steadily over time, in part because Hawk and other legendary skateboarders like Steve Caballero and Mike McGill visited it several times.

Sadly, after four decades of use and exposure to the elements, Livi has worn down and could use some tender loving care. However, according to Hawk, there is still a lot of life left in it, as he declared earlier this year that "the park is something substantial and significant, and it could actually become a destination." With the right care, Livingston has the potential to become the future of Scotland again.

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Many of West Lothian's most notable structures were designed and built in Livingston.

Scottish Enterprise Edinburgh and Lothian's proposal is to build a two-story office complex for startups and small firms, centered on a series of collaborative, interactive common spaces and staffed by an operator who provides counsel and mentoring to tenants.

Elements Square, which is owned by Land Securities, is a major new addition to the retail landscape of the city center. It is composed of six individual buildings connected by a translucent ETFE roof, it forms a new public hub for Livingston and includes a sizable covered, stepped space with a conservatory on the upper level.

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