Glasgow School of Art

Glasgow School of Art
Glasgow, Lanarkshire
Glasgow School of Art's Mackintosh Building
Principal:
Website:	www.gsa.ac.uk
Location
Grid reference:	NS58446598
Location:	55°51’58"N, 4°15’49"W

The Glasgow School of Art is a higher education art school offering undergraduate degrees; post-graduate awards (both taught and research-led) and PhDs in architecture, fine art and design based in Glasgow, Lanarkshire.

The school is housed in a number of buildings in the centre of Glasgow, on Garnethill, an area first developed by William Harley of Blythswood Hill in the early 1800s. The most famous of the School's buildings is known as 'The Mackintosh Building', designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh in phases between 1896–1909. The Mackintosh Building soon became one of the city's iconic landmarks and stood for over 100 years. It is an icon of the 'Modern Style' or 'British Art Nouveau style'. The building was severely damaged by fire in May 2014 and destroyed by a second fire in June 2018, with only the burnt-out shell remaining.

In 2019, GSA was placed 8th in the 2019 QS World Rankings for Art and Design, and the school maintained its 8th place ranking in 2020.

History

The north façade and main entrance of the Mackintosh Building

Founded in 1845 as the Glasgow Government School of Design, the school changed its name to The Glasgow School of Art in 1853. Originally located at 12 Ingram Street the school moved to the McLellan Galleries in Sauchiehall Street in 1869.

In 1897, work began on a new building nearby to house the school on Renfrew Street, funded by a donation of £10,000 from the Bellahouston Trust, left from the will of Moses Stevens of Bellahouston. The building was designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh, chosen for the commission by the school's director, Francis Newbery, who oversaw a period of expansion and fast-growing reputation. The first half of the building was completed in 1899 and the second half in 1909.

The School's campus has grown since that time and in 2009 an international architectural competition was held to find an architect-led design team who would develop the Campus Masterplan and design the Phase 1 building. The competition was won by New York-based Steven Holl Architects working with Glasgow-based JM Architects. The Reid Building was completed in 2014 and sits opposite the now destroyed Mackintosh Building on a site previously occupied by the Foulis, Assembly and Newbery Tower Buildings.

The school has produced most of Scotland's leading contemporary artists including, since 2005, 30 per cent of Turner Prize nominees and five recent Turner Prize winners: Simon Starling in 2005, Richard Wright in 2009, Martin Boyce in 2011, Duncan Campbell in 2014 and Charlotte Prodger in 2018.

The School of Architecture is highly rated by the architectural profession and the School of Design has been described by Design Week as "leaders in design education".

The School is organised into five academic schools:

• The Mackintosh School of Architecture
• The School of Design
• The School of Fine Art
• The School of Simulation and Visualisation
• The Innovation School

Te Glasgow Schoool of Art also has a long-established portfolio of non-degree art and design classes for children and adults delivered through the School's Open Studio.

Disciplines within the five schools include fine-art photography, painting and printmaking, sculpture and environmental art, product design, product-design engineering, textile design, fashion design, silversmithing and jewellery design, interior design, communication design, interaction design, and architecture.

Fires

2014 fire

The Mackintosh building after the 2014 fire

The original Mackintosh building was severely damaged by fire on 23 May 2014. An initial fire service estimate was that 90 per cent of the building and 70 per cent of its contents had been saved. The fire, which began in the basement, quickly spread upwards and, although it was brought under control quite quickly, significant damage was done to the historic studios and stairways. The renowned Mackintosh library was destroyed; the archive was water damaged, but was able to be air and freeze dried. There were no casualties.

The fire broke out as students were preparing for their Degree Show. Eyewitnesses said that the fire appeared to have started when a projector exploded in the basement of the Charles Rennie Mackintosh building just before 12:40 pm. Investigators later determined that the cause was not a faulty projector, but "a canister of expanding foam" used in close proximity to a hot projector, causing flammable gases to ignite. According to The Scotsman newspaper, the use of aerosol cans is against school policy. The report from the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service found that the design of the building contributed greatly to the spread of the fire: "the number of timber lined walls and voids, and original ventilation ducts running both vertically and horizontally throughout the building" as well as "a vertical service void", which "ran the entire height of the building … [and] allowed flames, hot gases, and smoke to travel". Fire and smoke dampers, which are intended to prevent the spread of fire and smoke through ducts, had not been retrofitted. In addition, an intended fire suppression system for the building had not been completed. A school staff member was on hand when the blaze first ignited, but was unable to contain the fast-spreading flames.

Restoration

A careful restoration process began soon after the fire; work on restoring and recreating the Mackintosh design, including the famous library interior, started in 2016. The restoration was performed with historical accuracy, including the use of original wood species such as longleaf pine and tulipwood.

2018 fire

A large fire broke out in the Mackintosh Building on 15 June 2018, causing extensive damage. Emergency services received the first call at 11:19 pm BST, and 120 firefighters and 20 fire engines were dispatched to the fire. No casualties were reported. As of June 2018 the cause of the fire was not known.

Alan Dunlop, visiting professor of architecture at Robert Gordon University who studied at the Mackintosh School of Architecture, was contacted by the press immediately after the fire and stated: "I can’t see any restoration possible for the building itself. It looks totally destroyed." This point of view was not supported by the early external building surveys, which appeared to indicate that much of the exterior had survived, though extensively damaged. Drone footage enabled a clearer assessment of the extent of the interior damage, and a programme of partial dismantling was established to stabilise the portions of the facade at risk of collapse, notably the south elevation. A Glasgow City Council spokesperson said: "There is a consensus emerging that the intention of the building control people, HES (Historic Environment Scotland) people and the art school is to save the building... Right now, people are operating on the understanding it will be saveable." It was also noted by Roger Billcliffe that "It has been voted Britain’s most important building several times over, and we have all of the information needed to recreate every detail, following extensive laser surveys after the first fire."

On 28 June 2018 it was announced that work was being planned to take down parts of the building that were in danger of collapse.

At the time of the fire, sprinklers had yet to be installed in the building. Components for the fire suppression system had been delivered the day before, but were weeks away from assembly and testing.

In August 2020, Glasgow School of Art took legal action against Page & Park, the Glasgow based architectural practice responsible for the Mackintosh Building restoration work.

In November 2020, Glasgow School of Art announced that work to clear debris from the Mackintosh Building would not be completed until 2021 and that work to repair fire damaged glazing and cladding on the Reid Building would not be completed until 2022.

In March 2021, the Board of Glasgow School of Art announced that a Project Development Board had been established for the restoration of the Mackintosh Building. This is chaired by the Director of the Art School who has assumed the role of project sponsor, is leading the works and is directly responsible for delivery. A Strategic Outline Business Case for the restoration will be drafted by late spring 2021 and completed by summer 2021. This will then determine the programme to complete the works.

Campuses

Glasgow Campus

The western façade of the Mackintosh building

The school has a large footprint across Glasgow: From the date of the first fire of May 2014, until September 2019 the School of Fine Art was temporarily housed in a campus at the Tontine Building, Merchant City, Glasgow. The School of Design, The Innovation School and The Mackintosh School of Architecture, along with the GSA Library are all located in and around the Garnethill area, where the Mackintosh Building sits.

The Stow Building, bought from Kelvin College (hence retaining the name, Stow) - has been refurbished and fitted out. Stow opened to the general public for the first time for the 2019 degree show, and opened as a functioning academic building, housing all of the Fine Art courses, in September 2019.

The School of Simulation and Visualisation (formerly the Digital Design Studio (DDS)) is based on the southside of Glasgow in The Hub, at Pacific Quay by the River Clyde.

The Mackintosh Building was the heart of the campus and continued to be a functioning part of the school until the first major fire on 23 May 2014. The building housed the Fine Art Painting department, first year studios and administrative staff. It houses the Mackintosh gallery which held many different exhibitions throughout the year. The Mackintosh Gallery (also known as the Mackintosh Museum) was the only part of the Mackintosh building open to the general public; all other areas of the school were only viewable by guided tour. An exception to this rule was the Degree Show where all the studios within the Mackintosh building were opened to allow people to view the graduating year's final artworks. while the Mackintosh Building underwent restoration and the newly acquired Stow Building is refurbished.

Forres - Altyre Estate Campus

The Innovation School also has a base in Forres, Morayshire; focusing on research-led teaching at post-graduate level.

Singapore Campus

Since September 2012, the GSA has delivered years 3 and 4 of its Bachelor of Arts (Hons) Programmes in Communication Design and Interior Design in Singapore, in partnership with the Singapore Institute of Technology, based at the Temasek Polytechnic Campus in Tampines. In 2019, it was mutually agreed to end the partnership one year early - the final cohort of Glasgow School of Art Singapore students will graduate in June 2021.

The programmes enable Diploma students from the Singapore Polytechnics to progress from a Diploma to a BA (Hons) degree.

Students studying in Singapore benefit from the same programme of study and award as in the home institution, along with resources and equipment according to the GSA specifications.

Outside links

("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Glasgow School of Art)

• Glasgow School of Art
• Glasgow School of Art Student Association
• CANMORE (RCAHMS) record of Renfrew Street, Glasgow School of Art
• Glasgow School of Art Photographs before and after the two fires