Category: DCT-Events

As part of Dundee Civic Trust’s 50th anniversary year, we are delighted to announce this lecture to be given by Professor Ric Russell on Thursday 13 July 2023 at the Dalhousie Building, University of Dundee.

Ric is a popular figure who studied at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art, School of Architecture. He won several academic prizes and gained entry to the Royal College of Art, London, Industrial Design Course.

In 1982 he was co-founding Director, with the late Andrew Nicoll, of Nicoll Russell Studios Ltd. The practice’s first significant project was Dundee Repertory Theatre which, besides winning a Dundee Civic Trust Award, was last year granted Category A listing, joining a mere handful of other post-war listed buildings in Dundee. The practice has designed many other buildings which have received prestigious awards, seven of those being given by Dundee Civic Trust, most recently Dundee Railway Station and Water`s Edge.

Over more than forty years, Ric has had wide-ranging experience in many different types of projects including arts and theatre, commercial and hospitality, residential and educational, as well as being a specialist in contextual, environmental and interior design.  Unusually for an architect, Ric has also collaborated on the design of many major civil engineering projects including the Clackmannan Bridge, the Falkirk Wheel and Seabraes Bridge in Dundee.

Having been brought up and studying in Dundee, Ric’s work with Nicoll Russell Studios has naturally had a focus in the Dundee area; however, the practice works throughout Scotland, the rest of the UK, and overseas as far afield as Australia.

Ric has served as a Commissioner on the Royal Fine Art Commission for Scotland and subsequently as a Director and chair of the review panel for Architecture and Design Scotland.

In 1996 he was elected an Associate of the Royal Scottish Academy and is now a full member. Subsequently he was appointed to Professorships at Heriot Watt University School of Architecture and at Dundee University Faculty of Architecture, Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art.  He has presented a variety of architectural papers and has addressed the RIAS Convention on several occasions.

There is no charge for the lecture, which starts at 7 pm. It will be preceded at 6.30 by a wine reception kindly donated by McNicoll and Cairnie of Broughty Ferry. To assist with these hospitality arrangements, please drop us a line via our contact form if you wish to attend the reception.

20 April 2023:  Bruce Keith, “Bridgescapes”

Author Bruce Keith will discuss his book ‘Bridgescapes’, which is a personal journey through history, celebrating Scotland’s bridge building heritage. Amply illustrated by a young Scottish photographer, Lewis Matheson, this will prove to be a thought-provoking, enlightening and engaging evening.  This talk has been several times delayed by Covid so we greatly look forward to finally hearing Bruce and seeing the photographs. 

The talk will start at 7.00pm at Dundee Arts Society Roseangle Gallery and non-members are, as always, welcome.  A glass of wine is provided to encourage conversation afterwards.

16 February 2023: Caishlan Sweeney, “Meanwhile at Eden Project, Dundee”

This will be our annual joint meeting with the Friends of Dundee Heritage Trust. It is the DHT turn to host, so the talk will take place at Discovery Point at the usual time of 7 pm, when Caishlan Sweeney will update us on progress with the Eden Project at Dundee.

15 December 2022:  John Gray, “Forty Years of Public Art in Dundee”

Planning Officer John Gray will describe the development of Dundee’s wide-ranging public art, starting with the Blackness Public Art Programme which he came to Dundee to join in 1982.  Since then, Dundee has become well known for its extensive and varied public art and design, and this talk will challenge us to consider how this has affected the character of the city.