Reopening the Bunker: An Architectural Investigation of the Post-war Fate of Four Scottish Nuclear Bunkers

Abstract

The Cold War bunker stands as an anomalous, bulky reminder of an era of both existential anxiety and high-modernist optimism within architecture. Quickly abandoned at the end of the Cold War, since the early 1990s these remains have attracted increasing interest from enthusiasts, heritage professionals and academics, and attempts have also been made to find new uses for them. This article will examine — from an architectural perspective — this cultural re-engagement and the potential for renovation and adaptive reuse of these structures. Through a consideration of the post-war fate of four Scottish bunker sites — Barnton Quarry, Gairloch, Cultybraggan and Kirknewton — the lingering influence of preparation for war, and adaptation for peace will be traced, examining the ongoing cultural production of these places through their mnemonic resonances across wider architectural canon, and their symbiotic relationship with the contemporary cultural practices which valorize them.

KEYWORDS:

• Cold War nuclear bunkers
• architecture
• preservation
• conservation
• adaptive re-use
• virtual resurrection

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank the Barnton Quarry Restoration Team, Brandon Butterworth, Gairloch Heritage Museum and Subterranea Britannica for facilitating access to the bunker sites presented in this article. I would like to thank Luke Bennett for his invaluable comments and sustained support with earlier drafts of this article, along with Professor Florian Urban, Dr Thea Stevens and Professor Steve Love for their continued supervision. My PhD is funded by the Scottish Graduate School for Arts and Humanities — Arts and Humanities Research Council Doctoral Training Partnership.

Notes on contributor

Sean Kinnear is a PhD student in Architecture at The Glasgow School of Art. His publications include Barnton Quarry (2017) (Urban Realm), Going Underground: Our Cold War Heritage Needs Protection (2018) (RIBA Journal) Full Circle of the Nuclear Bunker (2018) (ICON Magazine) and Cold Case: Kirknewton War Room (2018) (Urban Realm). He is currently in his second year researching a PhD project titled: The Nuclear Bunker: Tracing, analysing and preserving the remnants of Cold War architecture in Scotland.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Arts and Humanities Research Council.