The 3 jaw-dropping Scottish buildings up for global architecture award - including glass tower distillery

The 20-metre-high structure stands at the heart of whisky giant Glenmorangie’s historic distillery in Tain, a town on Scotland’s east coast, with views over the Dornoch Firth.

The building has been selected as part of the longlist for this year’s Dezeen awards in the small workplace category. Dezeen are a popular architecture and interiors magazine who run an annual scheme recognising some of the world’s best designs.

The distillery was designed by Paris-based studio Barthélémy Griño Architects, and draws inspiration from the area’s historic lighthouses.

The striking addition also embodies a new chapter of innovation and experiment for the Scotch whisky label, giving Glenmorangie, famous for its single-malt Scotch, a space to experiment with other types and blends of whisky.

The tower houses two large copper stills, which are thought to be the tallest in Scotland.

Construction started in 2018 and it started distilling in 2021, with the first of its products only just being made available.

It was one of two buildings designed for the site by the French studio, who also designed the nearby warehouse for the more industrial processes of fermentation and malting.

Alongside the distillery, two other Scottish buildings appeared on the longlist.

New Olympia House, a former Salvation Army Citadel in Glasgow which has been transformed into a new office space in the east end of the city, has also been longlisted in the workplace category.

The £1.7 million transformation of the Bridgeton Cross landmark was designed by O'DonnellBrown Architects, working with Clyde Gateway, an urban regeneration company.

The 280-square-metre space features a sculptural metal entrance tower named The Beacon. As well as marking a new accessible entrance, the structure makes reference to the Bridgeton Umbrella, a focal point for the community for over a century, and the city’s history of metalwork.

The third building to make the longlist, in the small project category, is a 38-square-metre, one bedroom cottage in the Scottish Highlands.

The cottage in Plockton, which has been named Iorram, was designed by the Glasgow-based Baillie Baillie Architects as a home and holiday let for the studio's founders.

With a vision to create a modern version of the traditional cottages found in the region, the design caught the judges’ eye for its palette of locally sourced Douglas fir, clay plaster and earthenware tile.

"We wanted Iorram to communicate the value of craftsmanship, locally sourced timber, and the inherent quality and calmness that natural materials bring to a space," Baillie Baillie co-founder Colin Baillie told Dezeen.

The awards shortlist is due to be revealed in October, with the final winners announced in November.