Biggest buildings in Glasgow guide, Scottish architecture design, Scotland property
The Biggest Buildings in Glasgow
18 July 2024
Glasgow is filled with stunning architecture that draws the eye of residents and tourists alike. It’s also home to buildings known for their grandiose size rather than their architectural details. While some cathedrals and state buildings feature these too, other structures are known primarily for their towering sizes.
Some of these buildings serve as residential spaces. Other buildings are commercial or mixed-use spaces housing everything from lecture halls and museum exhibits to patient rooms and luxury accommodations for travellers.
In this article, we’ll explore Glasgow’s biggest commercial and mixed-use buildings that beckon people to marvel at them before heading in their doors.
1. Glasgow Science Centre Tower
Easily the best-known building on this list is the Glasgow Science Centre Tower. The tower holds a Guinness World Record for being the world’s tallest freestanding and fully rotating structure. At 127 metres, the view of Glasgow from the sky is accessible via a two-and-a-half-minute elevator ride to the top. Access to the top of the tower is weather-dependent, as the elevator will not run when winds exceed 25 miles per hour. When access to the top is restricted, the Glasgow Science Centre still offers plenty of entertainment and intriguing building design.
2. University of Glasgow Tower
The University of Glasgow Tower, formally named the Gilbert Scott Building after its designer Gilbert Scott, is known for its staggering height and beautiful Gothic Revival architectural style. It features classic Gothic characteristics such as windows and doors framed with pointed arches and decorative stone sculptures. The tower stands at an impressive 85 metres, making it a grand building that serves as the main entrance to the university.
3. Buchanan Wharf Towers
These towers are recent additions to the Clyde River waterfront, with the first opening in 2021. They consist of several buildings with a cohesive aesthetic that demonstrates their architectural relationship even from afar. The complex aims to combine new design styles that bring together residential and commercial spaces for community-centric living.
The concept is not a new idea by any means, but the approach to it is new and exciting, using vertical space to accommodate community needs, with the two tallest towers reaching 80 metres in height. It’s akin to how online casinos, like these reliable new ones, are built on traditional casino characteristics to create a new gambling style. The towers provide a modern style of community living (skyscrapers) while building off an old style of living where everything a community needs is in a central location.
4. Glasgow City Chambers
The Glasgow City Chambers is an impressive building that took five years to construct, from 1883 to 1888. The building stands at an imposing and impressive 73 metres in height at the city’s civic centre, George Square. The building was designed to impress and symbolise Glasgow’s prosperity under Queen Victoria’s rule by the architect William Young. The design is filled with elegant details, including stained glass windows, granite columns, marble stairs, and mosaics.
5. St Andrew House
St Andrew House, not to be confused with the Government of Scotland’s headquarters St Andrew’s House in Edinburgh, is a 1960s construction standing at 71 metres that’s an example of Brutalist architecture and one of the city’s earliest skyscrapers.
Brutalist architecture characterised many new buildings of the 1960s in the UK and other parts of the world, with their heavy block-like appearance, rough concrete materiality, and focus on function rather than beauty. The building is mixed-use; the lower levels provide retail space, and the upper levels are the Premier Inn hotel.
6. Hilton Glasgow
The Hilton Glasgow is another skyscraper hotel, reaching 70 metres in height, inviting visitors to see the city from new vantage points. The building was opened in November 1992 and underwent a major renovation in 2023 to capture the style of the famous Scottish architect, designer, and artist Charles Rennie Mackintosh.
Mackintosh was a prominent figure in the Art Nouveau movement, which influenced art and architecture in equal measure. Elements of this movement and Mackintosh’s unique style are shown throughout the hotel in subdued ways through colour pallets and long vertical lines in the decor.
7. Cineworld Glasgow
Considered the tallest cinema in the world, Cineworld Glasgow reaches 62 metres. The tower first opened in 2001, but prior to this, the location had a rich artistic history, which, unfortunately, was lost to a fire and demolished in 1987. The site was once the Apollo Theatre and, before this, Green’s Playhouse. Apollo Theatre hosted huge names in the music industry, including Johnny Cash, AC/DC, ABBA, and Paul McCartney. Green’s Playhouse offered a cinema, ballroom and tea rooms.
Today, it’s home to 18 screens and can fit 4,000 viewers. Its size even earned it a Guinness World Record for being the tallest cinema in the world in 2000, and it still holds the record today.
8. Queen Elizabeth University Hospital
The innovative Queen Elizabeth University Hospital is one of the largest hospitals in the UK at 170,000 square metres and 60 metres tall. The hospital is built to accommodate 1,300 beds, with a space dedicated to a children’s hospital. The hospital’s three main functions (the children’s hospital, adults’ hospital, and adult ward) are distinguished in three different forms. The hospital, with its huge array of health services and prioritisation of innovative healthcare design, is one of the premier healthcare locations in the UK.
Conclusion
There are many buildings in Glasgow worth celebrating. Some are celebrated for their history, some for pushing ahead with new concepts and innovations, and some, like the eight above, are celebrated for their grandiose size. Many on the list also encompass elements to celebrate, like holding world records and awards, as well as rich and interesting histories that captivate tourists and residents.
Comments on this guide to Biggest buildings in Glasgow, Scotland, UK, article are welcome.
Property Designs
Glasgow Architecture Designs – architectural selection below:
Cameron House Resort Building
Cameron House Loch Lomond Resort
50 Bothwell Street Office
50 Bothwell Street Office Redevelopment
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