Four-legged patients should feel at home at Edinburgh's new equine care unit, designed by Sheppard Robson as a modern take on traditional farm architecture.
The London-based architecture firm built the £3.3 million extension for The Royal (Dick) Vet Equine Hospital on the University of Edinburgh's Easter Bush Campus.
The new Equine Diagnostic, Surgical and Critical Care Unit houses state-of-the-art diagnostic and surgical facilities. Vets and veterinary students treat all kinds of horses at the facility, from people's pets to winners of the Grand National.

Sheppard Robson designed an angular roof  that resembles a barn, and used materials found in agricultural settings for the project, including profiled sheet metal cladding and timber panels. "We've housed the latest technology and veterinary thinking within a very simple architectural form that makes reference to agricultural outbuildings in terms of form and materiality," said James Dick, partner at Sheppard Robson.
"This distinctive profile will enable the project to become an important marker for the campus masterplan and an integral part of the University's 2025 vision to create a state-of-the-art animal welfare and research hub."

Sheppard Robson's has previously designed laboratories for the University of Bristol with a rippling aluminium facade that made a feature of ventilation channels, and a children's hospital in Johannesburg with playful details in bright colours and large windows f...