“Most buildings destroy landscape; for once to destroy a building in order to create landscape feels like sweet revenge” –Eelco Hooftman, founding partner, Gross Max.

Rottenrow Gardens were created in 2003/4 on the site of the former eponymous Maternity Hospital as a centrepiece of Strathclyde Universities’ campus. The scheme created a new, multi-level urban plaza and green lung a stone’s throw from George Square. Traces of the former hospital give the project the feel of a contemporary ruined garden, from retained retaining walls and an entrance portico to salvaged sandstone cornice and pilaster blocks. It has become a popular outdoor venue for events from graduation parties to outdoor cinema events.

It was featured in The Lighthouse exhibition and publication ‘Common-Place’, covered in national journals, was awarded a Dynamic Place Award from Scottish Enterprise, and is not a bad Top Trump in the Lighthouse’s 2004 ‘Architecture in Scotland’ pack.