Heartbreaking fire at the Iconic Glasgow School of Art

[al**bear]

The Charles Rennie Mackintosh masterpiece Building in Glasgow city centre has all but destoryed by a fire

All His irreplaceable fixtures and fittings and the priceless collections in the world famous Art Library and Mackintosh museum, that housed His furniture collected, donated & loaned in the last 100yrs

Numerous famous pieces of Art and All the work of the students for the last 4/5 years ( what will happen to the future of their Degrees, will have to be worked out)

Students and Glaswegians were in tears on the streets, as one of most beautiful buildings in the World went up in flames.

I was planning to take my daughter to visit it, next month- I've not been inside since the 70s

The Library

[saasher2012]

Tragic indeed!

[al**bear]

News is surfacing that students and members of the Public charged in and started pulling priceless items out the building, some even carried on doing this with the fire Brigade telling them to leave for their own safety

Glasgows Salvage squad also went into some really dangerous places, during the fire and retrieved items listed by senior staff members. The Car park in the other Art school building across the road, turned into a storeroom - no idea what has been saved

[saasher2012]

Do they know yet how it started?
No amount of insurance can replace the loss of such an iconic Scottish artists work that even today is still at the forefront of many designs!.

[al**bear]

heard it was an exploding projector in the basement, sent sparks onto expandable foam, that went up very very quickly

There is little hope for the contents of the iconic Library, but it seems over 70% of the other Historical objects have been saved

[saasher2012]

Truly sad news indeed even though they were able to save that amount!.

[rose2008-2008]

How Awful!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[suzieseaside]

Very sad to see that on the news last night - such a beautiful building and contents.

I'm sure the poor students will get their degrees - they will have some sort of photographic record of their work I would think, but it must be devastating for them to have lost what they have created.

[electric*mayhem*band]

Absolutely dreadful, McB. As you rightly state, one of the most aesthetic buildings in the country. Not only the interior, but the exterior also. They don't make them like that anymore. Sad to say, however much they try to repair and reconstruct it, it'll never be the same. There simply isn't the skilled craftsmen around these days. You only have to look at the monstrosities that are springing up today. Comparison - zero. All very distressing and heartrending to see.

[al**bear]

You mean like this monstrosity , across the street - the recently opened extension to the Glasgow school of Art

http://www.dezeen.com/2014/03/06/glasgow-school-of-art-reid-building-steven-holl/

The building may be 'good' but it overwhelms Mackintosh's masterpiece across the street

[suzieseaside]

That looks good in terms of light (although I'm not at all convinced it 'forges a symbiotic relationship with the Macintosh building') and you would think it could provide a great working environment for artists, but there's an interesting comment underneath the article:

The "Driven Voids of light" while useful, carry sound from the ground floor to the mezzanine, making it horrible to work in. At no point did the designers consider a day in the life of the student, or tutor, trying to use this building.

I'm sure that is often the case - architects want to make their mark but fail to consider all practical aspects of actually using a building.

[electric*mayhem*band]

Ghastly and hideous, cold and impersonal. Completely void of character.

Like the pipework effect in the ceiling space though. Nice touch, and gives a certain je ne sais quoi to the area.

[lhasa.two]

Absolutely awful fire, what a tragedy but thankfully many items were saved, if not everything.

I'm sure it can be rebuilt, there are the skills out there. No one thought Windsor was saveable but the restoration, although it took a long time, was brilliant. I'm sure money will be made available too as it's such an iconic building and represents a wonderfully creative artist and designer. I hope so anyway.

[electric*mayhem*band]

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@suzieseaside wrote:

I'm sure that is often the case - architects want to make their mark but fail to consider all practical aspects of actually using a building.

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I look upon architects making their mark, the same way I look upon fly-tippers and litter louts making theirs. The difference being that an architect's mark can't be cleared up. Well not without a ton of Semtex, and a good wrecking ball.

[septiccpeg]

Most of the building has been saved.  It will be rebuilt.

http://news.stv.tv/scotland/276440-firefighters-work-through-the-night-to-salvage-art-school/

[al**bear]

There are 8 photos of the Art school in this collection , this gives you a better idea of how stunning it looks on a human scale and from the viewpoints you would get from walking around the outside. https://www.flickr.com/photos/abbozzo/4297044201/in/photostream/ it sits on a hill that is steep from back to front, and even slopes from left to right at the front

[septiccpeg]

Thanks Al. 

My grandmother's sister won a scholarship to go there, but her mother wouldn't allow her to go to a city so far away all on her own.

They lived in Helensburgh!!!..