Edinburgh Futures Institute officially opened its doors to the public on Monday 3 June 2024 following an extensive seven-year, multi-million-pound restoration of the transformed and revitalised Old Royal Infirmary building, a much-loved city landmark.
Visiting us
- Please note this is a working building and you may find contractors working in different locations. Please follow their directions and follow any safety notices. Students and staff may also be working in different areas of the building.
- All the stops can be accessed using stairs or a lift – please follow the signs.
- If you need any assistance during your visit, please speak to any member of university staff or contact Reception on Level 2.
- Toilets are available on every floor.
- If the fire alarm sounds, please follow the green fire evacuation signs and evacuate from the nearest exit.
- You are welcome to use the corridor seating and informal seating areas during your visit – look for the areas with soft furnishings in green or orange.
Stop 1 – North Entrance
Go back out through the front doors and turn around to look at the entrance.
This was once the entrance to the Old Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh which housed the city’s main hospital until 2003.
Built in 1879, this was the third iteration of the Infirmary. It opened in 1729 in Robertson’s Close and later moved to larger buildings on Infirmary Street. As the city grew through the 19th century, a larger hospital was required.
The dates inscribed above the door refer to the founding of the original Infirmary in 1729 and the laying of the foundation stone here at Lauriston Place in 1870. The biblical quotes on either side are copied from the same inscribed on the previous Infirmary building.
The motto reads Patet Omnibus in Latin and means ‘open to all’. From the start, the Infirmary was open to all the people of Edinburgh, including the poorest, without any entry criteria and importantly, no fees.
A pelican – a symbol from the hospital’s coat of arms – is also inscribed. The pelican symbolises charity, selflessness and rebirth and was the symbol of the Pelican Nurses who completed a fourth year of training here.
The hospital was designed by the Edinburgh-based architect David Bryce in the Scottish Baronial style – a very distinct national style of architecture which combined Gothic medievalism with a Scottish flavour inspired by castles and 16th century palaces – look for the crow-step gables, bartizans, carved finials and turrets! Scottish slate was used for the roof tiles and local grey sandstone, quarried from the Hailes quarry to the south‐west of the city, was utilised in the masonry.
Bryce’s design comprised a surgical hospital here on Lauriston Place and a medical hospital facing the Meadows (the blonde sandstone buildings which can still be seen today between the modern housing blocks).
A square-shaped administration block was located in the middle of the site (now a green space at the rear of the building). This included a residency (the quarters of the house physicians and surgeons), kitchen, apothecary’s shop, the house of the Lady Superintendent of Nurses and a chapel. A curving corridor – nicknamed the ‘duodenum’ (referring to the curvature of the bowel!) – connected the admin block with the medical hospital.
Bryce designed the building according to the Pavilion system, in which patients could be kept apart in separate ‘pavilions’ to discourage the spread of infection, a design advanced by Florence Nightingale’s meticulous research in the 19th century. There are four pavilions on this side of the building and two on the other side. A central corridor runs the length of the building east to west with the clocktower in the centre.
The new Royal Infirmary was a state-of-the-art hospital when it opened in 1879 with 555 beds and was described in the Illustrated London News as ‘the best-planned hospital in Britain’ at the time.
Once you have finished, go back inside the lobby area.
Stop 2 – Historic Donor Boards
Many people remember this part of the hospital well, including the iconic black and white tiles which covered the beautiful flagstone floor.
The restored historic donor boards on either side of the doors remind us that prior to the creation of the National Health Service in 1948, the Royal Infirmary relied largely on voluntary support. When the University of Edinburgh bought the building in 2016, 74 historic donor boards were located around the building. Eight have been restored by conservation specialists.
Unfortunately, most of the boards could not be saved due to their condition, but a full photographic record was taken and an accessible database of donor names and donations has been created. We hope this will become a rich resource for students, researchers and our local community to explore and uncover the history of our building. We are working to uncover and share many of the stories, including donors who had connections with colonialism and the transatlantic slave trade.
The two boards you can see here have been beautifully conserved. You’ll see other boards as you walk around the building. Wealthy individuals and organisations donated sums large and small, including Queen Victoria and Sir James Young Simpson, the doctor who pioneered the use of chloroform as an anaesthetic, particularly during childbirth. The Simpson Memorial Maternity Hospital – which stood near here overlooking the Meadows – was named after him.
Stop 3 – Edinburgh Seven Tapestry
To reach the next stop, stand facing the North Entrance, turn to your right and walk along the corridor. On the right before the blue double doors is a viewing point in the wall which offers a full view of the tapestry.
This new artwork was designed by the Scottish artist Christine Borland and created by Dovecot Studios – a world-renowned tapestry studio in the heart of Edinburgh.
The tapestry commemorates the first seven women to matriculate at any British university to study medicine in 1869. Although they studied at the University of Edinburgh, they were not permitted to graduate and qualify as doctors, although later many qualified abroad and some returned to the UK to practice here. In 2019, the university posthumously awarded degrees to the seven women, acknowledging their campaign for equality and correcting this historical wrong.
After viewing the tapestry, continue along the corridor through the double doors.
The large screen on the right shows more detail of this innovative three-dimensional tapestry. Read further information on the story of the Edinburgh Seven Tapestry.
When you are finished, continue walking along the corridor.
Stop 4 – Level 2 East corridor
As you walk along the corridor, you can see how the original plaster and lath on the walls has been removed – allowing us to see intriguing traces of later additions, windows and doorways.
On your right and left, new infill sections meet the old outer walls of the building. These areas offer additional space for meetings, collaboration and teaching with lecture theatres and seminar rooms. The new construction also has a practical function, physically supporting the existing Victorian structure, particularly that of the main corridor.
Further along in this area, you can see how the building’s signature wide and airy ‘Nightingale Wards’ have been retained. These are now used for teaching and as office space for external organisations and partners, with incubation areas for start-up businesses and labs for innovation and prototyping.
Edinburgh Futures Institute builds on the University’s expertise across disciplines ranging from artificial intelligence to philosophy to deliver educational programmes, collaborative research projects and partnerships. The Institute brings together students, researchers, partners and civic society to focus on the responsible use of data to address global challenges including ethics of artificial intelligence, social inequality and climate change. This new 20,000 sqm redevelopment makes our building one of the largest institutes for interdisciplinary learning, research and innovation in Europe.
Stop 5 – Donor board in East Stairwell
Continue along the corridor and go through two sets of blue double doors.
In the stairwell you can see another restored donor board. There was dedicated and creative fundraising by groups, societies, trade organisations and professional bodies to raise funds for the hospital, including the Women of Edinburgh and the Domestic servants of Edinburgh. Did the teachers of Edinburgh donate more than their pupils?
Continue upstairs to Level 3. If you would like to use the lift, go back through the double doors and the lift is on your right.
Stop 6 – The Spirit Case
On Level 3, go through the blue double doors and walk along the corridor towards the clocktower area in the centre of the building.
The Spirit Case was created through the Recycling a Hospital project. The project sought to act as a meaningful engagement with the community during the time of transition of the building from hospital to the Edinburgh Futures Institute, and to create an object which is intended as a touchstone for memories and future dreaming.
The name ‘Spirit Case’ references our desire to provide a home in the new Futures Institute for what we understand as the ‘spirit of publicness’ which animated the building when it was a hospital, and our hope that we who occupy the building now can live up to this legacy.
The Spirit Case has been created from building materials that were once part of the building and bear a rich history and symbolic connection to the former hospital – supporting and sheltering those who worked and were treated there. We are giving them new life as an artwork – another aspect of transformation.
Scottish slates from the roof and Baltic Pine from the original floor joists, as well as timber from an elm tree that once stood in the hospital grounds. A piece of the hospital’s sandstone and original nails also form part of the object. For more information see the interpretation panel on the wall to the right and visit the website.
The set of donor boards on the landing to the south of the Spirit Case includes families who lost loved ones and made donations in their memory. Can you spot any familiar places?
Stop 7 – Level 3 West corridor
Once you have seen the donor boards, face the Spirit Case and turn to your left. Continue through the blue double doors and along the corridor.
Walk along the corridor and go into the large informal seating area on your right (look for the green soft furnishings). Enjoy the view over Lauriston Place towards the city.
When you are ready, turn right and continue through the blue double doors into the West stairwell and go down to Level 1. A lift is also available in this area.
On the way, you can pause on the next floor to view another historic donor board which contains yet more hidden stories of groups and individuals who raised funds to support the hospital. There are brewers, railway workers, high constables, hotel keepers and a donation by Edinburgh Business Women in 1879.
Stop 8 – Level 1, Past to Futures Exhibition
On Level 1, continue through the blue double doors and walk along the corridor. At the midpoint of the corridor, turn right into a display area.
This area is a flexible exhibition space where you can see a new display showcasing artefacts from the building’s history as well as new objects related to the Edinburgh Futures Institute including some recent work by Edinburgh Futures Institute students.
The screens in this area show the development of the Spirit Case and the Recycling a Hospital project. Fascinating images taken during the renovation project, from the initial stripping out stage to the finished spaces, give an idea of the condition of the building after it stood empty for twenty years and the extensive project required to transform it into what you see today. There is also a selection of historical images showing the hospital as a working building, now in the care of the Lothian Health Services Archive here at the University of Edinburgh.
Opposite the display area, is a mezzanine balcony giving views over our new large events space. If the doors are unlocked today, take a quick look to see this amazing new space, which was excavated to create the space and a new public square above – a major feat of engineering.
This space is used to host our event seasons and a range of events and opportunities for members of the public and University of Edinburgh community, including the Edinburgh International Book Festival.
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When you are finished, continue walking along the corridor towards the east of the building and through the double doors to the final stop.
Stop 9 – Canopy Kitchen & Courtyard
This area of the hospital served as the casualty department until the hospital relocated to a new site at Little France, on the outskirts of the city, in 2003.
On the stairwell, notice the old stone door frame and lintel which are still in place. This was the entrance to the former hospital and one which many people remember using.
Today, this area has been converted into the Canopy Kitchen & Courtyard – our welcoming cafe. Take a break and relax at the end of your tour with coffee and cake or a delicious lunch!
Full details of the cafe opening hours are available online.
Thank you for visiting us today – we hoped you enjoyed your visit and return again soon!
Thank you for visiting us today – we hoped you enjoyed your visit and return again soon!
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