In March, Hinterland will mark the official launch of Scotland’s Festival of Architecture with a night-time event at St Peter’s Seminary In Cardross, the UK’s first modernist ruin and a masterpiece of Scottish architecture. Audiences will walk through woodland to discover the ruined concrete seminary which will be re-animated by light installations and a specially commissioned choral work by composer Rory Boyle. This unique event has created by Glasgow-based public art organisation NVA as part of the fundraising campaign to restore the seminary.

St Peter’s was designed and built by Andy MacMillan and Isi Metzstein of Gillespie, Kidd and Coia . It was completed and consecrated in 1966 and went on to win MacMilland and Metzstein the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) Gold Medal for architecture. However, the buildings are now registered as one of the World Monuments Fund’s most endangered cultural landmarks.

Neil Baxter, CEO Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland (RIAS) said, ‘The architectural significance of the former St Peter’s Seminary must be measured in European terms. It is now on the brink of becoming a quite new type of visitor and a national cultural attraction.’

Avanti Architects, NORD Architecture and ERZ Landscape Architects are developing proposals to deliver an iconic new cultural resource.  The main Seminary building will be consolidated as a ‘raw’ frame while the chapel and sanctuary, including the stunning ziggurat rooflight, will be restored as an  events space. There will also be reclamation of the main pathways and repair of the historic bridges and late mediaeval castle keep. The Victorian walled garden will be brought back into use for community growing and learning activities and there will be a cafe, indoor and outdoor teaching and performance spaces, a permanent exhibition and other visitor facilities.

Hinterland opens on 18 March 2016 and runs until 27 March 2016. Tickets and more information are available here.