Enric Miralles: Exhibition showcases vision behind design of Scottish Parliament building

A new exhibition exploring how Enric Miralles brought to life his vision of a Scottish Parliament “growing out of the land” is now open to the public at Holyrood.

Enric Miralles: Creating the Scottish Parliament and other stories by Benedetta Tagliabue and EMBT opened at the Scottish Parliament on Thursday and will run until October 30.

Construction began on the Scottish Parliament in June 1999 on the site of an old brewery.

But the hangover from the devolution project lingered for years as costs spiralled and an inquiry found flaws in the management of the whole project.

Now a new exhibition inside Holyrood showcases Miralles vision for the building, featuring more than 50 models and some of his early drawings.

These include hand-drawn concept images, sketches, collages, site studies, and competition boards from the Fundació Enric Miralles archives.

Barcelona-based architecture studio EMBT, founded by Miralles and his partner Benedetta Tagliabue, won the international competition to design the Scottish Parliament in 1998. They collaborated with Edinburgh-based firm RMJM to deliver a building that would reflect Scotland’s identity.

Their design aimed to create “a new Parliament that embodied the values of Scotland, a space rooted in its landscape, traditions and people.”

The work on display captures the essence of that vision, much of it developed under the leadership of Tagliabue following Miralles’ untimely death in 2000.