Plate G7.no22: The Cells: St Peter’s Seminary – Cardross (Scotland)

As this building has fallen ever increasingly into disrepair, more and more of its constructional secrets have been revealed.
This is a view that one would never have had the opportunity to see, had the building not become so degraded. It’s quite remarkable – seeing the construction; but seeing too the scale of the place; and seeing something else: a unique relationship of spaces, which would otherwise have been hidden. It’s fascinating, and inherently elegant, much as the hollowed-out cores of tower houses are, because these buildings have a quality imbued, of proportioned mass and volume throughout, a dna of refinement. It’s not surprising therefore, that this building is elegant, from any angle and in any condition.