Culloden Battlefield and Visitor Centre

To walk across Drummossie Moor is to feel a tangible connection with the terrifying heroic and tragic reality of the battle of Culloden and its aftermath. The initial response is emotional - to reflect on the human suffering and sacrifice - the loss of life and of a way of life - to be moved by the spirit of the place.

On 16 April 1746, 14,000 people took part in a short, brutal and bloody battle. In just over an hour it was over: 1000 lay dead, many more were wounded and the Jacobite cause was lost. The aftermath signalled brutal suppression of the Highlanders and their way of life. The repercussions are still with us today and there is hardly a corner of Scotland that was not touched by these events.

The primary role of the visitor and interpretation facilities on the battlefield is to tune the visitor into the spirit of the place, to transport their imagination to the events of 250 years ago, to touch them as well as inform them.

To try to create this immediacy ARCADE's strategy is to split the building into two parts:

* one relating to the events and their interpretation where the built form and the interpretation are fully iintegrated

* one relating to the more prosaic aspects of the visitor experience - the café, shop, education / conference facilities, toilets, services etc - which need to be able to operate as part of a visit to the battlefield and also independently as a community resource.

The two parts are linked - although not necessarily part of the same building with visitors to the battlefield beginning with the first and then leaving the site via the second.