Building Design

Gareth Hoskins has won the competition to design the Gathering Space — Scotland’s first Venice Biennale pavilion. Hoskins’ structure, which saw off competition from more than 50 other anonymously submitted schemes, is based on the concept of “stair as space” with timber steps rising and twisting to accommodate 200 people above an indoor auditorium or undercroft. The undercroft will seat 100 people for events planned for the first week of the Biennale, including the British Council debate on housing. Hoskins said the initial idea for a set of public stairs was suggested by his colleague Elissa Yon and drew on such precedents as the Spanish Steps in Rome. “It was the strongest idea to come out of an office workshop we held,” he said. “It allows people to gather informally — on the steps — and formally in the lecture space underneath.”