Located on the Nethergate, to the west of the city centre, is the Dundee Contemporary Arts Centre (or DCA) was opened in 1999 by the Secretary of State for Scotland, Donald Dewar (1937 - 2000) and was intended to form a significant part in regaining a cultural identity of the city. The strikingly modernist building was designed by Edinburgh-based Richard Murphy Architects for a steeply-sloping awkward site, which is much wider away from the street. Thus the L-shaped building extends from two storeys at the front to four storeys at the back, where it partially reuses the brick warehouse of the former Macleans Garage, dating from c.1930. The dramatic entrance is therefore designed to draw people in through a narrow street frontage, squeezed between St. Andrew's Roman Catholic Cathedral and the historic Nethergate House (c.1790).
The Centre includes a two-screen art-house cinema, gallery and exhibition areas, workshops, a cafe-restaurant, and a Visual Research Centre for the University of Dundee. The £6.1 million cost was funded by the Scottish Arts Council, the Dundee City Council, Scottish Enterprise, the European Regional Development Fund and the University of Dundee. The building gained the Regeneration of Scotland Supreme Award (1999), both RIBA and Civic Trust Awards in 2000 and was named Building of the Decade Award by the Dundee Institute of Architects (2007).
