McEwan Hall

From graduation ceremonies in June, outside it a quiet open paved area for the local skaters in the Spring, to Hot Dub Time Machine DANCE PARTY during the Festival in August.
This large domed-​building is stunning from the outside, and it’s beauty is almost lost in the fact that you can’t ever get far enough away from it to appreciate it. A road on one side, University science buildings on the other, and with Teviot Row House beside it (the oldest Student Union in the world). But if you take a moment to look up, when walking down Bristo Square, you’ll realise how beautiful it is.
I came here to watch a graduation, and remember it being suitably impressive and sombre. Flash forward a few years, and it opens its doors as one of the Festival venues to Hot Dub Time Machine: a 3 hour dance party. It felt bizarre at first, as the room filled up; but then it was packed from end-​to-​end with people dancing non-​stop. And the old fashioned benches up the back made a great place to store bags.
You couldn’t forget you were dancing in an old, historical, University building. But let’s just say it’s a building of many faces.

Ah yes, another grand space in this most grand of cities; another grand space paid for from the profits of beer (see also the Usher Hall). This one is the University of Edinburgh’s graduation hall during normal times, though the Festival Fringe is far from normality of course. For my most recent trip to this enlightened place I danced the night away to chart topping tunes of the past sixty years, and who could blame me for ‘Hot Dub Time Machine’ was the sign on the door and we duly did the time warp.
The building itself is mightily spectacular: circular like a drum, deep as a well, wood panelled akin to a barrel… you get the point. It’s a good space for the solemnity of a graduation ceremony (I’ve seen the Duke of Edinburgh, Alan Greenspan and Gordon Brown share the stage on such an occasion), but seems at ease when letting its hair down too.
Best. Graduation-​hall-​cum-​nightclub. Ever.

A stunning building…
Exams to graduation…
Uni centrepiece.

It’s so fitting that this place, the place where students graduate, is named after Scotland’s most famous brewery. Yes, it was Mr. McEwan who funded the building of this magnificent building in the late 19^th century.
It’s just a fantastic place to graduate. In fact, I can’t think of a better venue in Edinburgh. That said… it is a truly dreadful place to have exams. I had most of my exams at uni in here. The first exam you have in here you waste the first 15 minutes looking around you, taking in your decadent surroundings. Then when you’re used to it it’s just big and cold. Too big and too cold.
Also, for 2010, it’s become the biggest venue of the Fringe, with a capacity of over 1000. It’s where you go and watch the comics you see on Michael McIntyre’s roadshow, the ones who are really really famous. And it’s nice that inside they’ve covered all the decorative features with drapes to make it feel like more of a venue. So apart from exams, it’s a huge thumbs up.

Unless you’re at Edinburgh Uni or popping in during the festival, there is very little reason for most people to go to McEwan Hall, but it is really impressive. Towering over Bristo Square, it took me until my graduation to actually get inside there, and it’s just a amazing on the inside. With huge murals of classical scenes, and busts of famous blokeys littering the columns, it’s a traditionally impressive building.
It is massive too, fitting in a good few hundred people. And useful for a multitude of events, from graduations to exams and even the occasional silent disco, which is a very weird experience.

McEwan Hall is where most students from the University of Edinburgh graduate. From the outside, McEwan Hall looks really great, but its interior is really majestic. During May and December, the hall hosts exams and this can be really distracting when you are in such a beautiful building. I first came here when I went to an Open Day for the university and it was full with over 1,000 students evaluating the university, and after hearing that this is where you eventually graduate, it is a definite pulling point.
During the festival period, McEwan hall is turned into a venue, I actually went there last night with my flatmate to watch Jim Jefferies (who was great by the way!) and it was also brilliant for this purpose and no matter where you sat, you were always guaranteed to get a good view.
Due to its size and its ornate decorations inside, the hall is often used for public lectures held by the university as well as concerts.