The Potterrow Mandela Centre or Potterrow Student Centre is operated by

Edinburgh University Students' Association Edinburgh University Students' Association (EUSA) is the students' union at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland. The Association's aim is the advancement of education of Edinburgh students by representing and supporting them, and by promoting t ...

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

, Scotland.

Site and architecture

The name "Potterrow" recalls a medieval suburb which stood outside the

town walls A defensive wall is a fortification usually used to protect a city, town or other settlement from potential aggressors. The walls can range from simple palisades or Earthworks (military), earthworks to extensive military fortifications such as ...

. Its Victorian buildings and street layout disappeared when the university demolished the area for redevelopment in the mid-1960s. With its distinctive large

Plexiglas Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) is a synthetic polymer derived from methyl methacrylate. It is a transparent thermoplastic, used as an engineering plastic. PMMA is also known as acrylic, acrylic glass, as well as by the trade names and bra ...

dome, the building was designed by architects

Morris and Steedman Morris and Steedman was an architecture firm based in Edinburgh, Scotland. The firm was founded by James Shepherd Morris (1931–2006) and Robert Russell Steedman (born 1929) in the 1950s. The pair are best known for their private houses in the m ...

and completed in 1973. The centre was refurbished in 2012.

Use

Potterrow contains a variety of student entertainment and support services including a shop, a bank, two cafés, Edinburgh's largest nightclub, the university's

Chaplaincy A chaplain is, traditionally, a cleric (such as a minister, priest, pastor, rabbi, purohit, or imam), or a lay representative of a religious tradition, attached to a secular institution (such as a hospital, prison, military unit, intelligen ...

, The Advice Place, and the main EUSA offices. In 1986, students voted to rename the centre in honour of imprisoned anti-apartheid revolutionary

Nelson Mandela Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela ( , ; born Rolihlahla Mandela; 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African Internal resistance to apartheid, anti-apartheid activist and politician who served as the first president of South Africa f ...

. During the

Edinburgh Festival Fringe The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as the Edinburgh Fringe, the Fringe or the Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest performance arts festival, which in 2024 spanned 25 days, sold more than 2.6 million tickets and featur ...

in August, the building is used as a comedy venue under the name Pleasance Dome with five performing spaces, operated by the

Pleasance Theatre Trust The Pleasance Theatre Trust (often simply called The Pleasance) is a venue operator and producer of live events, known internationally for being one of the major, so-called "Big Four", operators at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the world's la ...

Gallery

File:Pleasance Dome (Potterrow Student Centre), Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2018 (44246074022).jpg, alt=Photo of Potterrow as the 'Pleasance Dome' during the 2018 Fringe Festival, Potterrow as the 'Pleasance Dome' during the 2018 Fringe Festival File:Inside Potterrow Student Centre, Edinburgh (15216415677).jpg, alt=Photo of the interior in 2014, Interior and dome in 2014 following renovations File:History undergraduate Tomas Sanders speaking on Black History Month.jpg, The University Chaplaincy in 2017 File:Potterrow 'Pleasance Dome' box office and cafe bar seating at the Pleasance Dome during Edinburgh Festival Fringe (209146205).jpg, Festival Fringe interior in 2006

References

Buildings and structures of the University of Edinburgh 1973 establishments in Scotland School buildings completed in 1973 {{UK-university-stub