Hudson Beare Building, Colin Maclaurin Road, Edinburgh

The Hudson Beare Building, designed by Robert Gardner-Medwin in 1961, is a 7-bay, ribbed, rectangular-plan, flat-roofed Brutalist lecture theatre. It is set on a cantilevered angled base that rises from a central half-cylindrical concrete plinth. The base features timber shuttered concrete with a fanned shuttering detail, and each side has seven vertical tapering concrete ribs infilled with painted diagonal timber cladding. There is an in situ cast concrete escape stair to the south, equipped with plain metal balustrades and a timber handrail, and a part polished stone plinth forms the bottom step. Later additions include a temporary building and railings for a bike shed to the northeast.

To the north, there is a partially glazed walkway leading to the main flat-roofed rectangular-plan brick classroom block. Inside, the Crush Hall features a timber ribbed detail desk.

The interior boasts a boldly detailed decorative scheme that remains largely intact. It includes exposed concrete structural ribs with integral perforated timber acoustic panels, a lowered section of ceiling at the center, and a shallow stage with vertically aligned timber panelling at the rear, positioned behind modern whiteboards. A large cast concrete lectern with a tapered detail is located to one side, and the seating was installed in 1996.

Surrounding the lecture theatre are shuttered concrete boundary retaining walls, and there is a paved area below that encloses a former pond area at the base of the plinth, which has since been infilled.