St. Cuthbert’s Sculptural Gates | Environmental Design for the Public Realm

Created for South Lanarkshire Council for St. Cuthbert’s Primary School as part of a larger scale regeneration and public greenspace project. The gateway design was made by Ratho Byres Forge from wrought iron and finished in a dark green render, invoking the sense of organic tranquillity found in the nearby forests and nature reserves of Hamilton.

The gate design was inspired by the idea of nurture, protection and natural boundary; it satisfied the need for a barrier between the main school entrance and the main road positioned immediately outside the entranceway, in addition to adding a sense of occasion to the school grounds. 

Made up of a series of pods and connecting veins the design was inspired by the urban growth patterns of the streets and buildings surrounding the school, here seen as soft cellular formations. Working with sets of four pod sizes and eight vein sizes kept the build efficient and brought an underlying sense of order to the scatter pattern of the design.

The project included a participatory element where primary 6 and 7 pupils took part in workshops that explored the concepts of growth, nature and nurture in the context of learning. They provided drawings that helped inform the gateway design and they visited the forge during the making of the gates to learn about the ways in which wrought iron would be crafted to build their new school gates.

At the time of this artwork commission the school population had grown exponentially and meant that pupils were often in classes too small for their numbers. The wider regeneration project hoped to look at fundraising to build an annexe to the main building. The overall regeneration project including the gateway design was a huge success and resulted in a brand new two story school being built to accommodate the ever growing community.