The RIAS Open Lecture Series, now in its fifth year, has become an eagerly anticipated feature on the architectural events calendar. Aiming to entertain as well as inform, the series is open to everyone, architects and non-architects alike.

Tickets cost £4 each, or £20 for the series of 7 lectures. To book tickets, please contact the RIAS Events team.

Thursday 16 October 2003, 7pm
Film & Discussion:
The Architecture of Carlo Scarpa (1996, 55 mins)

One of the most challenging questions in architecture today is what should be done with old buildings. Carlo Scarpa believed, like William Morris, that it's imposssible to recreate the past. This beautifully photographed film - a collaboration between the film-maker Murray Grigor and the architect Richard Murphy - captures the genius of Scarpa's approach, exploring how renovation combined with masterful innovation rejuvenated such important buildings as Verona's Castelvecchio and the Palazzo Abatelis in Palermo.

Following the showing of this film, there will be an opportunity to speak with both Murray Grigor and Richard Murphy about this and Scarpa's work.

Thursday 20 November, 7pm
Professor Murdo MacDonald
Patrick Geddes, Art and Social Reform: Edinburgh in the 1880's

This early phase of Geddes's work began in earnest with the founding of the Edinburgh Social Union in 1884, an organisation which rapidly became not only an urban social housing organisation but a commissioning body for mural art in a civic context. Geddes's political standpoint becomes evident at this time, not least through the analogies he draws between the Presbyterianism of his own background and anarchist thinking. Geddes saw art as a crucial part of wider social reform and he was closely involved in the Arts and Crafts Congress in Edinburgh in 1889.

Murdo MacDonald is Professor of History of Scottish Art, University of Dundee

Wednesday 3 December 2003, 7pm
Professor Charles McKean
The History of Scottish Architectural Competitions - from the New Town to the Scottish Parliament Building

In the early '80s, architectural competitions were seen by the RIAS as a principal way of rejuvenating architecture in Scotland. But there were questions: did the winner break the rules? Do competitions interfere with normal commissioning? Is what was built related to the winning design? So, consider the words of the Japanese philosopher Kojin Karatini: 'Nothing is more irrelevant to architecture than the notion it is the realisation of a design qua idea. Far more dominant factors are the dialogue with, and persuasion of, the client, and collaboration with other staff. The design as initially conceived is destined to be transformed by the course of its execution.' If that is so, why are competitions valued? What are they for?

Charles McKean is Professor of Scottish Architectural History, University of Dundee.

Thursday 29 January 2004, 7pm
Miles Glendinning
An 'Edinburgh School'? Architecture in the Capital from Bryce to Matthew

Regional differences' in Scottish architecture arguably only emerged in the modern industrial age. Foremost among these was the polarisation between Glasgow's supposedly brash, extrovert modernity and Edinburgh's greater concern with hierarchical 'tradition'. This contrast became especially marked in the late 19th century, when Edinburgh architects came under the influence of the English Arts & Crafts movement. But did late 19th and early 20th century Edinburgh architecture go so far as to constitute a distinct and coherent 'school'? In this lecture, Miles Glendinning weighs up the evidence and outlines the work of some of the key figures of the age.

Miles Glendinning works for the Royal Commission for Ancient and Historic Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS).

Thursday 12 February 2004 7pm
Juliette MacDonald
History, Myth and identity in the work of Douglas Strachan

More than that of many of his contemporaries, the work of Douglas Strachan (1875-1950) offers clear evidence of particular paradigms of Scottish identity. His output ranged from stained-glass windows and murals to political cartoons and his designs for these media frequently possessed strong ideological messages. One of his best-known schemes can be found in Lorimer's Scottish National War Memorial, which reflects Scotland's cultural identity through the incorporation of the country's rich heritage of ethnic myths, legends and symbols.

Juliette MacDonald is a lecturer in Design History and Visual Culture in the Centre for Visual and Cultural Studies at Edinburgh College of Art.

Thursday 26th February 2004, 7pm
James Simpson
Mavisbank House—Post 'Restoration' - What now?

Mavisbank House is one of Scotland's finest buildings. The house and grounds, now derelict, were designed by Sir John Clerk and William Adam in 1723. In 1973, Mavisbank House was ravaged by fire and, although still beautiful, remains a precarious ruin.

As featured in the recent BBC programme ' Restoration', a real opportunity exists to restore Mavisbank for the entire nation. In conjunction with Historic Scotland and Midlothian Council, the Edinburgh Green Belt Trust envisages a future for Mavisbank house and grounds that is centred on the public use of the grounds as a country park.

James Simpson is a founding partner of Simpson and Brown Architects, a practice with a reputation for scholarly and conscientious conservation of beautiful buildings.

Thursday 25th March 2004, 7pm
David Stark
John Honeyman—Architect

John Honeyman founded an architectural practice in 1854 which today retains the name of its second principal John Keppie. Honeyman remained until 1904 when Charles Rennie Mackintosh was assumed into the partnership. While his passion was church design, Honeyman's work spanned across most areas of Victorian life, and its story is as much a social as an architectural one.

David Stark is Principal Architect of Keppie Design, celebrating 150 years of creativity in 2004.

All lectures take place at the RIAS Headquarters, 15 Rutland Square, Edinburgh, EH1 2BE. For more information, or to book tickets, contact Aisling Bryce on 0131 229 7545, or email abryce@rias.org.uk