Drinkall Dean were appointed as lead designer for this major interpretation project at Gladstone’s Land, one of the oldest buildings on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh. Gladstone’s Land is a Category A listed building, and one of the most historically significant in the National Trust for Scotland’s Edinburgh Portfolio. The origins of Gladstone’s Land date back to the early 1500s, and it took the shape in which it still stands in around 1620. We designed a number of new spaces within the building including a café and ice cream parlour, integrated retail, and new holiday apartments. We also designed site-wide interpretation.

We worked closely with a National Trust for Scotland curator when developing interpretation so that our design responded directly to the building’s history. Our philosophy for interpretation was to be surprising, unusual, and encourage people to look differently at the historic context and fabric of the building, and physically engage with it.