Angus-born architect Kathryn Findlay celebrated at V&A Dundee as part of RSA200
V&A Dundee unveils Ushida Findlay: Unbroken Spaces as part of RSA200: Celebrating Together. Opening on 4 July, the free display at V&A Dundee is a celebration of architect Kathryn Findlay RSA – the first woman architect elected to the Royal Scottish Academy. Ushida Findlay: Unbroken Spaces will explore the creativity, curiosity and courage that shaped local architect Kathryn Findlay's career, whose ideas continue to inspire architects today.
Raised in Finavon, Angus in 1953, the daughter of a sheep farmer, Kathryn Findlay trained at Edinburgh College of Art and the Architectural Association in London before moving to Japan and setting up the architectural practice Ushida Findlay with her husband. In 1999, Ushida Findlay contributed to the Homes for the Future development on the edge of Glasgow Green as part of Glasgow 1999: UK City of Architecture and Design. It was their first building in Europe. The project marked the beginning of Findlay's return to the UK, from where she embarked on a series of ambitious projects.
In 2005 Findlay joined the University of Dundee as Professor of Architecture and Environment. Here she was part of the earliest conversations about bringing a V&A museum to Dundee. When her own bid was unsuccessful, Kathryn later recalled suggesting that the engineers, Arup, connect with Japanese architect Kengo Kuma, an introduction that helped bring the current building into being. Visitors will be able to see her initial architectural ideas as part of the display.
Known for their bold imagination and fluid, organic forms, Ushida Findlay made a name for themselves in the 1990s with wildly imaginative and otherworldly houses in the UK and Japan. Truss Wall House, Japan (1993) and Soft and Hairy House, Japan (1994) became the partnership's early celebrated designs. Kathryn described the process of building Truss Wall House as imagining the interior as a worm eating through an apple, carving spaces from a solid mass.
The free display at V&A Dundee will bring together rare materials from the Ushida Findlay archive, showcasing the pioneering collaboration she formed with partner Eisaku Ushida and tracing the evolution of her architectural career. From early concept drawings to models and project documents, the display offers a unique look at how the partnership combined art, science, and landscape to create an architecture entirely their own.
In Kathryn’s final years, working with her daughter Miya and others as Ushida Findlay Architects, she worked across a range of projects in scale and ambition, most notably the ArcelorMittal Orbit for the London 2012 Olympics.
The Jane Drew Prize, widely considered the most prestigious award for elevating the profile of women in architecture, was announced shortly after her death on 10 January 2014. It marked the profession's recognition of a career that had long been pushing against the grain. Eisaku Ushida passed away on 2 January 2024.
Miya Ushida, Architect at Miya Ushida Architects, said: “For my brother and me, the drawings and models that will be on display at V&A Dundee were simply part of everyday life growing up. We always knew our parents were extraordinary and it is a great pleasure to be able to share their work with the public. Having worked with my mother during the later years of her career and knowing how deeply connected she felt to Scotland, it is especially meaningful to see her work celebrated in the place she came from."
James Wylie, Curator at V&A Dundee, said: “Although I never had the chance to meet Kathryn, it's been wonderful uncovering who she was through the Ushida Findlay archive. From the extraordinary buildings she created with Eisaku, like Soft and Hairy House, whose Dali-esque qualities instantly caught my imagination, to the many ideas jotted down in her sketchbooks. I'm delighted to be working with her daughter Miya and the RSA to celebrate one of Scotland's architectural mavericks."
This display, part of the RSA’s bicentenary celebrations, reunites the archive of Ushida Findlay and Ushida Findlay Architects, presenting it together for the first time. Kathryn and Eisaku’s family have generously gifted the archive to the RSA’s collections, as one of the largest donations in the Academy's history.
Sandy Wood, Head of Collections at RSA, said: "As RSA200: Celebrating Together, brings over 100 partners across Scotland together to mark two centuries of creative excellence, exhibitions like V&A Dundee’s 'Ushida Findlay: Unbroken Spaces' celebrating Kathryn Findlay RSA - the first woman architect elected to the Academy - remind us that RSA200 is not just about honoring our history, but also inspiring the current and new generation of visionary artists, designers and architects."
The Royal Scottish Academy was founded in 1826 to support artists and architects and promote art and architecture in Scotland. They are an independent, non-governmental charitable institution led by Academicians. Royal Scottish Academicians are prominent artists and architects elected by their peers who govern the RSA on a democratic basis. The RSA run a year-round programme of exhibitions, artist opportunities and events from their base at The Mound in Edinburgh.
The ambitious anniversary project is designed to bring partners and communities together to celebrate the cultural history, presence and influence of the RSA and its Academicians across Scotland. The year-long celebration will help connect and celebrate RSA artists, architects and established and emerging artists who have been part of the RSA family both historically and now. The celebration will stretch across the whole of 2026 and reach all regions of Scotland and beyond.
Ushida Findlay: Unbroken Spaces is free and runs from 4 July to 28 August 2026 at V&A Dundee.