Angela Tulloch
“The structure of place is not a fixed, eternal state. As a rule places change, sometimes rapidly. This does not mean, however, that the genius loci necessarily changes or gets lost.” C. Norberg-Shurtz
This was my final year project at Edinburgh Napier University. The host structure I chose was in Whalsay,
Shetland. The Midden Court is a series of out-houses to Symbister House (the lairds mansion) and has a rich and complex history. The building stands for alot of pain and struggle of the local community in years past but also of community strength and change. Symbister House, like Heidegger’s bridge, gathers its context and
what has taken place, and thereby reveals its value as a symbol. And in turn the context has revealed its
meaning. Symbister House sits as a memory of what has taken place and now, as the islands school, it
stands for something else as “…taking place presupposes that the places conserve their identity during a
certain stretch of time. Stabilitas loci is a necessary condition in human life.” C. Norberg-Schulz
Shetland. The Midden Court is a series of out-houses to Symbister House (the lairds mansion) and has a rich and complex history. The building stands for alot of pain and struggle of the local community in years past but also of community strength and change. Symbister House, like Heidegger’s bridge, gathers its context and
what has taken place, and thereby reveals its value as a symbol. And in turn the context has revealed its
meaning. Symbister House sits as a memory of what has taken place and now, as the islands school, it
stands for something else as “…taking place presupposes that the places conserve their identity during a
certain stretch of time. Stabilitas loci is a necessary condition in human life.” C. Norberg-Schulz
