Centre stage

James Dunbar-Nasmith, emeritus professor of architecture at Heriot-Watt University, can perhaps style himself a "theatrical knight" following the Queen's Birthday Honours. Sir James, who was for ten years head of the school of architecture at Edinburgh College of Art, was also co-founder of the architects' firm Law & Dunbar-Nasmith, which has been responsible for many theatres, including the Eden Court in Inverness and the Pitlochry and Edinburgh Festival theatres.

It also supervised the dismantling of the auditorium of Dunfermline Opera House, which was shipped to Florida and reconstructed within the Sarasota Center for the Performing Arts. Almost 30 years ago, the firm converted the Church of Scotland Gateway Theatre in Edinburgh into studios for Scottish Television, and has now been commissioned to restore it as a theatre for Queen Margaret College's drama department.