design
Banner Banner

Share |

Glasgow School of Art, Rennie Mackintosh, Architect, Photo, Refurbishment, Date

Glasgow School of Art

Rennie Mackintosh Building - Modern Architecture Scotland, UK



13 May 2013

Glasgow School of Art New Building

Steven Holl Architects’ Glasgow School Of Art Tops Out

Glasgow, May 8, 2013 – The new Glasgow School of Art, designed by Steven Holl Architects in partnership with JM Architects (Glasgow) and Arup Engineering, celebrated its topping out yesterday. The building stands across from Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s 1909 Glasgow School of Art in complementary contrast, forging a symbiotic relation in which each structure heightens the integral qualities of the other. The new building will significantly enhance the teaching, learning and research facilities available to GSA students and staff and the access the public will have to their work.

Glasgow School of Art New Building
photo from architect

Inspired by Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s inventive manipulation of the building section to introduce and deploy light in a tremendous variety of inspiring and successful ways, the new design complements its neighbor, but moves forward using a new language of light. With well-proportioned studio and workshop spaces at the core of teaching and making art, these spaces are arranged in plan and section with natural side and top light for inspiring work environments. An homage to Mackintosh in space, “driven voids of light” allow for the integration of structure, spatial modulation and light. The driven void light shafts penetrate the building’s core and deliver natural light and vertical air circulation through the depth of the building, providing direct connectivity with the outside world through the changing intensity and color of the sky.

“With great enthusiasm we celebrate the topping out of our new building for the Glasgow School of Art. We always felt a silent facade would contrast best with the masterwork of the Mackintosh building, with behind that calm street front, inspiring interior spaces for the students and faculty. It is a joy to see them in real light,” said Steven Holl.

Senior Partner Chris McVoy added, “We have reached the moment when one can see how the new building’s exterior profile resonates with the Mackintosh building and the cityscape, while inside the central circuit draws one up though the rhythm of spatial volumes of studios and social spaces in shifting, varying light.”

The design provides much-needed design school studios and offices, technical workshops and digital media labs, lecture facilities, communal staff and student areas, exhibition spaces and a new Mackintosh interpretation center. A “circuit of connection” throughout the new GSA links the studios and communal spaces, encouraging creative abrasion across and between departments that is central to the workings of the school.

Professor Seona Reid, Director of the Glasgow School of Art, said, “Over the last year the building site has been a hive of activity as this wonderful building has risen from the ground and revealed its elegance and originality. Today’s Topping Out ceremony is a landmark occasion for all the many people who have been involved in this exciting development. We are delighted to have Steven Holl and Chris McVoy with us today along with the team from JM Architects and representatives from Sir Robert McAlpine and Arup Engineering. We are looking forward eagerly to the time when we can occupy the building and watch it providing an inspiring new environment for the creative endeavors of our staff and students.”

The new building, rated BREEAM Excellent, integrates several innovative sustainable design features, such as storm water retention, collection and reuse, and green roofs. The driven voids of light provide natural ventilation throughout the building, eliminating the need for air conditioning. A new biomass plant serves the new Glasgow School of Art, the original Mackintosh building and the Bourdon Building.

The new Glasgow School of Art building, which is set to open for the 2013/2014 academic year, is Phase 1 of the Glasgow School of Art’s Estate campus plan. Steven Holl Architects with Glasgow-based JM Architects were unanimously selected in 2009 as the winning team in an international competition for the new Glasgow School of Art.


Previously:

Glasgow School of Art Photos

GSA Expansion Site + Original Building

New photos, taken 28 Apr 2012:

Site cleared for the new building by Steven Holl Architects + jm architects:
Glasgow School of Art Building Glasgow School of Art Building
photos © Adrian Welch

The orginal Glasgow Mac building:
Glasgow School of Art Building Glasgow School of Art Building Glasgow School of Art Building
photos © Adrian Welch

Glasgow School of Art Building Glasgow School of Art Building Glasgow School of Art Building
photos © Adrian Welch

Jul 2011

Glasgow School of Art - New Head

GSA appoints new Head of Mackintosh School of Architecture

The Glasgow School of Art has appointed practicing architect and educator Christopher Platt as Head of the Mackintosh School of Architecture.

Chris Platt:
Chris Platt
photo from NC

Currently Director of studioKAP architects and Director of Graduation Studies in the Department of Architecture at The University of Strathclyde, Christopher brings to The Glasgow School of Art an ambition to develop further the international standing of the Mackintosh School and deliver an architectural education which is holistic, integrated and crosses practice and academia.

With over 30 years in practice both in the UK and internationally, half of which has been combined with working within architectural education and research, Christopher’s research interests include dwelling and place, detail, the design process and architectural pedagogy. These, together with his ability to present a “Glasgow voice” to architectural and educational issues, his commitment to practice-led, studio-based education and research, provides a good fits with the Mackintosh School’s existing areas of research strength in environmentally sustainable architecture, urban design and place-making and provides a platform for growth.

Speaking on his appointment he said “The Mackintosh School is moving into its most exciting phase so far and it is a tremendous privilege to be part of that and lead this hugely ambitious school in a challenging time for both the architectural profession and Higher Education.”

Professor Seona Reid, Director of the GSA who led the appointment panel said “the appointment of Christopher Platt to this important role follows an exhaustive recruitment process which attracted international interest. That we were able to find someone of Christopher’s calibre and standing already working in Glasgow reflects the international position which the city and the School have in architecture and design and the talent of those working within them.”

Christopher will join the GSA at the end of October.

Christopher Platt

Christopher Platt CArch DipArch RIBA FRIAS FHEA is Senior Lecturer and Director of Graduation Studies at the Department of Architecture, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow and founding director with Rod Kemsley, of the award-winning architectural practice studioKAP whose built work has been peer reviewed and published internationally.

He is a registered architect in Great Britain and was previously a member of the Architektenkammer in Berlin. He is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and was made a Fellow of the Royal Incorporation of Architects of Scotland in 2009. He is involved in both practice-based research and research-driven practice and writes on a wide range of issues overlapping practice and academia. He was apprentice, student and design tutor at the Mackintosh School of Architecture, Glasgow, under Professors Andy MacMillan and Isi Metzstein.

He has lectured widely in the UK, Germany, Ethiopia, Malaysia and China. He has taught across all subjects in the architectural course and has been instrumental in bringing architectural education and practice closer within Strathclyde’s Architecture Department where he co-founded the Centre for 21st Century Practice to help facilitate research, pedagogy, scholarship and knowledge exchange across both disciplines.

He has been a visiting professor at the Bauhaus University in Weimar since 2004 and has previously held senior positions in architectural practices in England, Germany and Ethiopia where he has an ongoing consultancy with Abba architects. His academic appointments include invited memberships to several revalidation boards and external examination bodies.

His media appearances include TV, radio and YouTube. ‘Dwelling with Architecture’, a book co-written with Rod Kemsley exploring aspects of architecture and the architect through the issue of ‘dwelling’ will be published by Routledge in January 2012. Against the current climate of the specialist academic / generalist architect tension, he combines academic endeavour with research-quality architectural practice at studioKAP establishing a new, sustainable model for the reflective practitioner/educator in the field of architectural education. He represents both the academy and the profession within an educational landscape which traditionally finds it difficult to accommodate both at the same time.

The Glasgow School of Art and Mackintosh School of Architecture

Founded in 1845 as a Government School of Design and is one of the UK’s oldest higher education institutions for creative education and research. Today the GSA is one of the Europe’s leading university-level institutions for the creative education and research in architecture, design and fine art and is one of the few remaining independent art schools in the UK.

The excellence of GSA’s practice-based research was recognised in the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise, being ranked as the second largest visual art and design research community in the UK after the University of the Arts London with 25% of research considered to be world-leading and a further 25% internationally recognised.

The GSA has an international community of over 1900 students studying fine art, design and architecture and a growing postgraduate population of approximate 300 students. 20% of GSA students are from outside the UK.

Architecture has been taught at the GSA from 1903.

The School boasts Charles Rennie Mackintosh and Andy MacMillan and Isi Metzstein of Gillespie Kidd and Coia, Glasgow’s most notable modernist practice, amongst its most eminent alumni. More recent leading architects such as Charlie Sutherland and Charlie Hussey (Sutherland Hussey Architects); Ian Alexander and Henry McKeown (JM Architects), Gareth Hoskins (Gareth Hoskins Architects), Andrew Bow (Senior Partner, Fosters) and Andrew Whalley (Partner Grimshaw) are also graduates of the School.

The Mackintosh School of Architecture is consistently ranked by the AJ 100 as the leading architecture school in Scotland and top five in the UK and our standing is reflected in the number of international students who study with us. The Mackintosh School’s share of the international student market ranks it alongside the Bartlett UCL and the Universities of Nottingham, Sheffield and Oxford Brookes.

The School remains unique in UK architecture education by being part of an Art School – a Small Specialist Institution engaged in practice based learning and teaching, research and knowledge exchange across fine art, design, digital media and architecture subject domains.

Recognised by the Architects Registration Board and the Royal Institute of British Architects, the School is committed to developing students with the aptitude, enthusiasm and commitment for the demands of professional practice in the contemporary world.

Since 2005, 28% of Turner Prize nominees have been graduates of the GSA as have two winners - Richard Wright in 2009 and Simon Starling in 2005. Two of the nominees for the Turner Prize 2011, Karla Black and Martin Boyce, are GSA graduates.

Glasgow School of Art Contact

Address : 168 Renfrew Street, Glasgow G3 6RQ
Location: block north of Sauchiehall St around its midpoint, northwest city centre
Phone: 0141 353 4530

Glasgow School of Art Proposal on TV
Glasgow School of Art Building
picture : Steven Holl Architects
Glasgow School of Art Extension : Letter from William Curtis

Glasgow School of Art Extension
Glasgow School of Art Building
picture : Steven Holl Architects
Glasgow School of Art Competition : Recommended for Approval

Glasgow School of Art Building

Date: 1897-1909
Architect : Rennie Mackintosh

Photos by Adrian Welch taken on 16 Apr:

Glasgow School of Art Glasgow School of Art Glasgow School of Art Glasgow School of Art
photos © Adrian Welch

Glasgow Art School is probably the most well known Charles Rennie Mackintosh building and certainly his most well respected. It is still an active School of Art, with a strong reputation.

Glasgow School of Art Glasgow School of Art Glasgow School of Art Scotland Glasgow School of Art building
School of Art building images © Adrian Welch, 230509

Powerful sandstone block with dark, woody interior - save the bright, white-painted 'hen run' high up on the south facade. The building achieves much of i6ts drama by being perched on a steep incline, and accentuating the verticality with soaring gridded oriel windows on the west facade (photos above).

Glasgow School of Art entry romantic sandstone modelling scottish modern architecture Glasgow School Art
School of Art building photos © adrian welch

Glasgow School of Art is a building of Global importance, recorded in most Histories of 20th Century Architecture.

The Art School was a powerful influence for Art Nouveau and later for Modernism. The GSA building was constructed in two phases, 1897-99 then 1906-09. Charles Rennie Mackintosh was a graduate of the GSA.

Glasgow School of Art interior
Art School interior - Library

Access to the School of Art building is restricted: contact the number below to arrange a Tour by GSA students. For Tours of other buildings in the city click on 'walking tours'.

Contact Glasgow School of Art: +44 (0)141 353 4526

Glasgow School of Art renewal

Mackintosh Conservation & Access Project - Window on the Mac

Glasgow School of Art
Art School interior photo : Andrew Lee

2008
Project Architects: Page\Park
Interiors: ZM Architecture


Glasgow School of Art Book

Glasgow School of Art BBC Programme

Glasgow School of Art Refurb

Phase I of £8.7m Glasgow School of Art refurbishment is complete. The Mackintosh Conservation and Access Project will restore the GSA building to Rennie Mackintosh's original design. Final building phase completed 2009.

Scottish Architects of the past

Glasgow School of Art Rennie Mackintosh
GSA pictures © AW

Glasgow School of Art Architect : Charles Rennie Mackintosh

Glasgow School of Art Architectural Symposium

The Glasgow School of Art welcomes architects to centenary celebrations for the Mackintosh Building on 14 Dec 2009
The Glasgow School of Art is to host a Mackintosh Symposium on Charles Rennie Mackintosh and international student design competition from 10 - 15 Dec 2009 to mark the centenary of its iconic Mackintosh Building.

Stirling of Stirlings
RIBA Journal online poll winner : best British-designed building of the past 175 years is The Glasgow School of Art by architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh.
8 Jun 2009

Address: GSA, 167 Renfrew Street, off Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow, Scotland

Glasgow School of Art Glasgow School of Art
GSA photos © AW

Glasgow Walking Tours - best of Scottish Architecture

Glasgow School of Art was built in two phases: East Wing 1897-99, West Wing 1907-09.

Glasgow School of Art
campus photo © Adrian Welch

The School - and Rennie Mackintosh - was a major influence on Enric Miralles in his designs for the Scottish Parliament.

Mackintosh, Scotland
School of Art entry facade - image from Mackintosh Tours 2004

Whilst studying at the Glasgow School of Art Rennie Mackintosh was introduced to two sisters - Frances & Margaret Macdonald. Rennie Mackintosh together with his friend Herbie MacNair formed an artistic alliance with Frances Macdonald & Margaret Macdonald: they became known as the 'Glasgow Four', and their Art Nouveau-inspired work became the hub of the 'Glasgow Style'.

Glasgow School of Art Glasgow School of Art
School, phase 2 building - west view ; southwest - photos © adrian welch

Glasgow School of Art context : Sauchiehall Street Buildings

In 1896 the 'Glasgow Four' were invited to exhibit at the London Arts &
Crafts Society Exhibition.
In 1899 Frances Macdonald & Herbie MacNair married and moved to Liverpool.
Mackintosh started the Glasgow School of Art.
In 1900 architect Rennie Mackintosh married Margaret Macdonald.

In 1903 Rennie Mackintosh moved permanently to the Willow Tearooms in Sauchiehall Street where he designed all the interior fittings plus some exterior.



 




Historic Glasgow : best Glasgow architecture of the past

Contact: Glasgow School of Art, E-mail - This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Rennie Mackintosh architect



Comments / photos for the Glasgow School of Art page welcome: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Glasgow School of Art Building - page : adrian welch / isabelle lomholt

 






Search this site

 
 






   Back to top