DESKTOP STUDY

MEDICAL SCHOOL
 UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURG
• CONSTRUCTION YEAR:1886-87
• LOCATION:Scotland
• ARCHITECT:Robert Rowand Anderson (1834-1921)

• A competition for the design of the new building was

opened in 1874 with six prominent architects submitted
plans ranging in style from Gothic to Neo-Classical to
Modernist.
• Ten professors of medicine and anatomy were unanimous in
selecting Rowand Anderson as the winner, citing the
functionality and aesthetic qualities of his design.
• Building is in the Northern Italian Renaissance
style, incorporating design influences from
Venice and Bologna, including red-tiled roofs, a
corbelled stair turret and palazzo frontages.

• Prior to submitting his competition entry,

Rowand Anderson had taken a world wide tour
of European medical schools, museums,
palaces and churches for inspiration.

• A large campanile, or bell tower, as well as an

integrated graduation hall, were omitted due to
budget constraints reduced the former to a small
bell on the north side of the courtyard and the
McEwan Hall project was delayed until the
1890s.
• In 1884, Anderson spoke of his design process,
describing the popular Palladian style as too rigid and
the Gothic unsuited to the scientific spirit of the age.

"I have made use of that phase of art which arose

in Italy during the second half of the fifteenth
century when the great minds of that country
began to burst the bonds of dogma and
ecclesiastical authority and were determined to
inquire into the nature of all things."

• For Anderson and for the professors who selected his

winning design, the style of architecture was intended to
aid and inspire the students, teachers and researchers
who worked within its walls.