Loch Lomond Gateway and Orientation Centre

While Loch Lomond is a gateway to the highlands, Bennett’s building is perceived as the gateway to the site of The Loch Lomond Shores development. It sits between the visitor car parks to the south, and the woodlands and the open expanse of Loch Lomond to the north.

Visitors move from their cars to a linear walkway which runs west to east towards the loch, before arcing southwards to the Page\Park tower.

The line of the route is reinforced by the linear form of the new building and by the 100m long green-oak screen wall. This timber element screens and filters views into the woodlands before layering the glass curtain-walled building itself. The storm-felled oak was gifted to the National Park by France. Elements of the building, stair and entrance lobby span the ambiguous space between filter and facade.

A straightforward 12m-span steel portal repeats at 6m centres for six bays, before being infilled by a second floor for the remaining two bays. The open space is rendered in Caithness stone for the floor, oak panels for the ceiling, and black paint for all frame and metal elements.