Located in the heart of historic Edinburgh, balancing between the old and the new, the Mary King's Close exists. It is one of Edinburgh's most famous tourist attractions and one of the best places that best represents how old Edinburgh looked like.

Mary King’s Close is considered one of the most haunted places in Scotland. In the 1600s it was a densely populated street, a bustling street of traders. The close was hit hard by the great plague of 1645. The plague struck this little community and there is a myth that the local council decided to contain the plague by incarcerating the victims, bricking up the close for several years and leaving them to die inside. It is likely that this is why the close was nicknamed 'street of sorrows'. Later, when the buildings were reoccupied, tales began to spread that the close was haunted by the un-quiet spirits of plague-victims.

Mary King's Close is now open throughout the year to the public for tours.

The first impression of Mary King's Close and the adjacent small square Roxburgh is that it is a very historical site, really elegant, handsome, and also foul of tourists. The surrounding buildings are mainly offices , shops and restaurants or cafes while the broader historical center there are many museums, galleries and libraries.

This is the general picture of Edinburgh. The particular form of the city was portrayed throughout the centuries with art , expressed by painting, music, sculpture, poetry, cinema.

After recording and analysis , we noted that there is not an information center exclusively for the history of Edinburgh and a center of film about it.

The proposed building was designed to fit the architecture of the conservation area of the old city, as it is located in the historic heart of Edinburgh. This means that many factors were considered as the local and traditional building materials of Edinburgh (sandstone), the weather and climatic conditions and natural history of the city.

The aim was to create a truly innovative and modern building next to the historic alley Mary King's Close, by combining old with new materials, technologies and systems that will deliver a sustainable building.

Intending to locate all required uses and facilities based on existing standards and the limited space of the available land, the proposed building extends over a ground floor and three floors above and two basements. Creating and viewing movies require much artificial lighting and special conditions, so it is considered most appropriate to place the adequate facilities on the underground floors, as well as natural conditions are less needed. Also by going underground we succeed better representation of how the underpass Mary King's Close used to look like.

The main facilities are the following:

• Ground Floor - Main reception area and services rooms
• First Floor - Inside and Outside Cafe/ Bar
• Second Floor - Library & Resource Centre
• Third Floor - Administrative offices and meeting room
• First Basement - Foyer, cinema and storage facilities
• Second Basement - Two recording studios, video and sound editing offices, control and observation rooms and changing facilities.