Benson + Forsyths Museum of Scotland opened to the public in 1998 and was hailed by Lord Rothschild as one of the great projects of the last decade. In this lecture Gordon Benson discusses the processes involved in the constructon of a contemporary building in a historic context - with specific reference to Scotland - and outlines the relationship of the architecture to the contents of the museums collection. Former AA students, Gordon Benson and Alan Forsyth were Diploma Unit Masters between 1977-1986.