One of Scotland�s leading architects has won a competition to represent the country at a top international design festival.

One of Scotland's leading architects has won a competition to represent the country at a top international design festival.

Gareth Hoskins will design Gathering Space, the Scottish presence at the 2008 Venice Architecture Biennale, it will be announced tomorrow.

More than 50 architectural practices entered the competition to create the official pavilion, which will be the centre for a series of discussions, film screenings and events including a British Council debate.

Hoskins's design will see a set of stairs built in Venice, which will enclose both an indoor auditorium, for 100 people, and an outdoor area seating 200 people. It will be built entirely from sustainably sourced or reclaimed timber.

Hoskins said: "Public stairs as seating has had a long tradition of being a type of informal gathering place. Precedents include the Spanish Steps in Rome and the entrance stairs at the Metropolitan Museum in New York. These places are vital to the urban environment."

Nick Barley, director of the Lighthouse, Scotland's centre for architecture and design, said: "We were impressed both by the number and the quality of the submissions for the Gathering Space.

"After a day of vigorous debate on the submissions, which were presented anonymously, the judges selected the proposal by Gareth Hoskins Architects.

"The judges were impressed by the structure's ability to act as a kind of stage; as a place both to see and be seen in Venice, while also providing a very unusual indoor space suitable for lectures, seminars and presentations.

The Scottish Government has given a grant of £75,000 towards the Gathering Space, as part of its push to support Scottish cultural abroad.

The design will be situated in a major piazza during the first week of the 11th Venice Architecture Biennale which runs from September 14 to November 23 this year.