Announcing 'Modernist Scotland': A Landmark Publication Celebrating Scotland's Post-War Architectural Heritage
We are thrilled to announce the forthcoming publication of 'Modernist Scotland' by Bruce Peter—a comprehensive, fully illustrated exploration of Scotland's bold modernist legacy since the second world war..
A Comprehensive Guide to Scotland's Modern Movement
This 416-page volume represents the most comprehensive study to date of the revolutionary architectural movement that transformed Scotland's built environment in the decades following World War II. Through meticulous research and stunning visual documentation, Bruce Peter examines 150 significant modernist structures that shaped Scottish cities, towns, and landscapes—from pioneering housing schemes and civic centres to innovative educational and cultural buildings.
The book reveals how architects in Scotland embraced modernist principles while responding to local contexts, materials, and social needs, creating a distinctive architectural identity that bridged international movement with regional character. Each building is presented with detailed analysis, historical context, and high-quality photography that captures both the bold vision of the era and the current state of these structures.
Peter understands that modernism in Scotland wasn't some imported Continental affectation but an indigenous mutation, born of post-war optimism and municipal socialism.
Jonathan Meades
More Than an Architectural Record
'Modernist Scotland' serves as both an architectural record and a cultural history, examining how these buildings reflected and influenced Scottish society's post-war transformation. The book aims to be a living history and a manifesto, seeking to encourage greater understanding and appreciation of Scotland's post-war built heritage and of the many diverse manifestations of the modern movement to have arisen there.
This mission is particularly urgent because since the 1970s many fine post-war buildings and environments have been neglected, unsympathetically altered or destroyed. Many more—ranging from very large examples, such as the Cumbernauld Town Centre megastructure, to small buildings such as pubs, houses and churches—are at risk.
What's Inside
The book comprises two distinct parts:
Part 1 features a circa 10,000-word illustrated essay explaining the development of modernism in Scottish architecture, planning, design and culture, emphasising the significance of the country's post-war built heritage. This is accompanied by never-previously-published illustrations from the author's collection of modernist buildings and environments, photographed when new and pristine in the 1950s-1970s.
Part 2 contains a survey in chronological order of 150 of the most architecturally and culturally interesting of Scotland's remaining post-war modernist buildings and places. This comprises new architectural photographs, each with an accompanying text to narrate the subject's history, significance and aesthetic qualities. A very wide diversity of types of building and place are included with examples relating to popular culture, engineering and technology alongside ones primarily regarded for their architectural qualities.
About the Author
Bruce Peter is Professor of Design History at Glasgow School of Art with expertise spanning modern architecture and design across transport, pleasure, and hospitality sectors. His extensive publishing career includes studies of Art Deco hotels and the International Style in 1950s-60s, research on British Railways design culture, and contributions to major exhibitions on Art Deco architecture at the Sainsbury Centre and V&A.
He continues to publish prolifically with recent works on Danish design influence in Britain as well as Art Deco Scotland, establishing himself as a leading authority on 20th-century architectural and design history across multiple sectors including transport infrastructure, leisure buildings, and hospitality design.
Distinctive Design Approach
The book's design reflects its subject matter with thoughtful attention to Scottish identity and modernist principles. Manchester-based Smallprint Studio approached the design with a clear, utilitarian aesthetic that draws inspiration from both the everyday, local government typography of mid-century Scotland and the iconic 1965 British motorway design system developed by Margaret Calvert and Jock Kinneir. This typography is paired with the recognisable blue and white of the national flag to create a design that is both distinctively Scottish and international.
Smallprint Studio, whose clients include Tate Liverpool, Manchester School of Art, BAFTA, Orange Art Projects NYC, Manchester Fashion Institute, Southbank Centre and The Holden Gallery, has created a visual identity that perfectly complements the book's content and mission.
Support This Important Project
This essential volume will appeal to architects, historians, students, and anyone interested in Scotland's built heritage and the enduring impact of modernist design. Given the urgency of documenting and preserving Scotland's modernist legacy, we are launching a crowdfunding campaign to bring this vital publication to fruition.
Your support will help ensure that this comprehensive documentation of Scotland's post-war architectural heritage reaches the widest possible audience, contributing to the preservation and appreciation of these remarkable buildings for future generations.
Publication - October 2025.
Support our crowdfunding campaign and be part of preserving Scotland's modernist legacy HERE.
For more information about the campaign launch and how to support 'Modernist Scotland', follow our updates and join us in celebrating Scotland's extraordinary post-war architectural heritage.
