Page\Park tops Fettes College wellbeing hub with bronze lantern roof

A 469-square-metre health and wellbeing hub has opened at Fettes College in Edinburgh, built by Scottish studio Page\Park from Scots-grown timber and stone quarried just 75 kilometres from the site. The Allardice Centre, named after the independent day and boarding school's alumnus David Allardice, brings medical and pastoral care services together in a single-storey, fully accessible building set into a wooded plot.

The design brief came with an unusual intellectual source. According to Page\Park, the building was informed by the late Allardice's interest in Eastern philosophy, in particular the elemental philosophy of Wuxing, which produced a palette of timber, stone and metal.

"Allardice spent much of his working life in East Asia, and was drawn to ancient Chinese philosophy and the five essential elements, fire, water, wood, metal and earth," the studio told Dezeen.

"This narrative directly influenced the design, materiality and construction approach, which can be seen through the strata-like stone cladding, burnt bronze metal roof, and connection to the outside," it added.

How does the building work structurally?

The structure is made from Scots-grown timber, while Darney stone forms the external load-bearing cladding, contrasted by a bronze roof. The stone was quarried only 75 kilometres away — roughly an hour's drive from the campus.

"The Darney stone chosen for the project was quarried only 75 kilometres away, and had fantastic mineral veins through it which paired neatly with the varying course sizes, leaning into the earth element theme, and giving a sense of permanence," said the studio.

Inside, an open wellbeing hub sits at the centre, wrapped by individual treatment and counselling rooms that overlook the surrounding woodland, developed by landscape architects Harrison Stevens.

The hub's main engineering move sits overhead. A mono-pitched, lantern-like roof creates a ring of clerestory windows framed by an exposed glued-laminated timber (glulam) structure, designed in collaboration with Scottish engineering firm Will Rudd.

The deep plan was the problem. "Fitting the full brief for both medical and pastoral functions into this constrained site, while avoiding level changes to maximise accessibility, forced the plan to be quite deep," explained the studio.

"Bringing natural light into this deep plan therefore became a challenge. To resolve this, the glulam structure extends and branches out at high level to reveal a triple-glazed clerestory lantern formed of timber curtain walling," it added.

What does the interior reveal?

White walls let the timber structure take the lead indoors. In the treatment rooms, leaf-print and green fabrics create a visual connection to the wooded site outside.

Page\Park framed that choice as deliberate pedagogy. "We were interested in the didactic implications of exposing the glulam timber frame, offering an insight into how the building was crafted, celebrating its sustainability principles and the elemental philosophy underpinning the design," said the studio.

The project extends a busy run for the practice in Scottish education work. Page\Park recently completed a teaching building for the University of Stirling, which was shortlisted for the 2025 RIAS Andrew Doolan Best Building in Scotland Award — a track record that suggests the Allardice Centre is unlikely to be its last campus commission.