Fort William, located beside Ben Nevis, the UK’s tallest mountain, is gateway to the outdoors. The town attracts ~120,000 climbers annually and serves as the start/end point for four major Scottish hikes. Despite its importance, limited perception has led to poor planning, with a focus on trucking routes and car travel. As a result, Fort William is characterised by a dominance of impermeable surfaces, reduced biodiversity, and inadequate pedestrian routes. This has contributed to its unfortunate reputation as the “ugliest town in the UK’s most beautiful region.”

Gateway to Remoteness seeks to redefine Fort William’s status by transforming the area around the town’s train and bus stations into landscapes that evoke the sensory experiences of remoteness. These experiences are inspired by what one might hear, see, feel, and smell in remote settings, emulating natural surroundings and processes from around Fort William while creating spaces that encourage play, learning, and reflection, as if one were in a remote location, whilst enhancing the town’s ecological significance.