Glasgow School of Art's Mackintosh rebuild chosen as
preferred option, but work may take six years to start
Rebuilding the Glasgow School of Art’s Mackintosh
building as a “faithful reinstatement” of the one destroyed by fire three years
ago is the preferred option for its future, art school chiefs have said.
By Lucinda
Cameron
Friday,
22nd October 2021, 2:27 pm
The
world-renowned building, designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh, was extensively
damaged when a fire broke out late on June 15, 2018 as it neared the end of a
£35 million restoration project following a previous fire in May 2014.
A strategic
outline business case (SOBC) for the Mackintosh Project, which involved a
rigorous analysis of the options for the building, was carried out and narrowed
down to create a short list of deliverable ones – faithful reinstatement,
hybrid and new build – which were further tested against a “do minimum” option.
2018 fire
A large
fire broke out in the Mackintosh Building on 15 June 2018, causing extensive
damage. The fire also caused severe damage to the nearby O2 ABC music
venue.[25] 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 January 2022 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."
The first
opportunity for the school administration to visit the site happened on 19 June
2018. Muriel Gray, chair of the Board of Governors, stated: "This was the
first opportunity for the expert team to see the building and begin what will
be a long and complex process of determining the future of the Mack, but we
remain optimistic. There is a huge desire to see Mackintosh’s masterpiece rise
again, one which we all share. We have incredibly detailed information on the
building collated over the last 4 years, and have worked with teams of talented
craftspeople who were doing a tremendous job on the restoration." In a
subsequent statement to the BBC, Professor Tom Inns, director of the school,
affirmed that "This building is not beyond saving. It will be saved in
some form." He continued to support his firm belief that the building
should continue in its function as a working art school, rather than a museum.
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. Compensation for local residents and
businesses was to be made available by the Scottish Government.
The same
day, Glasgow School of Art terminated its £25 million restoration contract with
Kier Group following the fire.
In November
2018, the then Director, Tom Inns wrote to the Scottish Parliament Culture,
Tourism, Europe and External Affairs Committee suggesting that if the
Mackintosh Building was to be rebuilt then an independent Mackintosh Building
Trust should be established to oversee what will be one of Scotland's biggest
heritage projects over the next 5–7 years, costing in excess of £100 million.
Tom Inns suggested this would allow the GSA Board of Governors and Executive team
to focus on the task of running one of the world's top art schools.
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 Architects, the
Glasgow-based architectural practice responsible for the Mackintosh Building
restoration work.
Between
August 2018 and July 2020 over £12 million had been spent on Mackintosh
Building debris clearance and stabilisation 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 was due to be drafted by
late spring 2021 and completed by summer 2021. This would determine the
programme to complete the works.
On the 25th
of January 2022, the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service published the results of
their three and a half year investigation in to the cause of the fire. No cause
could be determined.
This article was published in September 2017 referring
to the restoration after the fire of 2014 and before the total destruction with
the fire of 2018
How do you recreate a masterpiece like the Mackintosh
Library?
By Steven
Brocklehurst
BBC
Scotland news website
Published 8
September 2017
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-41205642
The
Mackintosh library at Glasgow School of Art, one of the world's finest examples
of art nouveau design, was almost entirely destroyed by fire in May 2014 but
efforts began almost immediately to bring it back to life.
The
Category A-listed Glasgow School of Art (GSA), considered to be Charles Rennie
Mackintosh's masterpiece building, was devastated when a fire engulfed its west
wing three years ago.
Undated
handout photo of a full-size model of a section of the fire-gutted Mackintosh
Library, which has been unveiled as work continues to restore the building to
its original 1910 design.
The
library, which housed original furniture and fittings designed by Mackintosh as
well as valuable archives, was reduced to blackened rubble.
But those
running the famous art school pledged the library would be recreated exactly as
the genius architect and designer had handed it over in 1910.
Professor
Tom Inns, director of The GSA, said: "From the outset we said that we
would restore the building and restore it well."
In order to
do that they have gone to great lengths to recreate every detail of the
original library.
They have
now produced a full-size prototype of a section of the library.
It is just
one section and is about one-twelfth of the actual size of the library but its
makers says it is correct in every detail.
Natalia
Burakowska, of Page Park architects, is an expert in the restoration of
cultural heritage.
She has
carried two years of painstaking research to prepare the ground for the
prototype.
"We
spent endless amounts of hours in the building measuring the burnt bits,"
she says.
"This
has been really important to us because even if you have amazing technology in
place it is still the personal contact with the remains of the library that has
been an amazing, valuable and important experience for us."
Ms Burakowska
also studied the original Mackintosh plans and the enormous GSA archive, as
well as photos from students and graduates.
She says
the details are faithful to Mackintosh's original library right down to using
the same nails as him.
They were
originally made in Glasgow but that firm closed down and sold the machinery to
the United States.
So the
nails have been brought from the US.
"A lot
of people ask us why would you not just screw all of the timbers
together?" Ms Burakowska says.
"What
is important is for this room to age in exactly the same manner as it would age
from 1910 onwards. That is really important."
Specialist
woodworkers Laurence McIntosh were responsible for building the prototype.
Managing
director David Macdonald said using the same nails as the original added to the
"authenticity" of the recreation.
He said:
"Every section has been detailed to show precisely the angle of the nails,
how far the nail head is punched in, how it is filled, the exact length of the
nail, so it is really important how the structure is held together.
"There
is no glue. There are very few screws used in the construction. It is all nails
that are holding it together and traditional hand-made dowels. It's all
completely authentic."
Mr
Macdonald said it was very unusual to make a full size prototype but it had
helped identify the pitfalls before the library is recreated for real on-site
at the famous Glasgow School of Art building next year.
He said:
"The critical brief was to reconstruct the library as it was handed over
in 1910.
"So
everything has to match precisely what was done by the Mackintosh tradesmen, in
every aspect from the timber used, the fixings, the nails, the finish, the
carvings and the paint effects on the spindles. It has all had to be precisely
replicated."
Although
the library prototype has been created with great care and accuracy, comparison
between it and pictures of the Mackintosh before it burnt down reveal they are
completely different colours.
Ms
Burakowska says this is because the wood in the library aged and became darker
as it was used over 100 years.
"It is
much lighter than everyone remembers but this is how Mackintosh would see it in
1910," she says.
"It is
a reconstruction of the original Mackintosh library so it feels new and there
is no way we can change that."
There was
some debate about the kind of wood that was used by Mackintosh in the library.
Ms
Burakowska says: "Our first thought was that it would probably be built
using Kauri Pine then we found some documents in our archives saying the
library could be built in Cypress.
"But
then scientific analysis of the timber proved that it is actually Tulip wood.
"It is
one of the softest hard woods and had been imported from the United
States."
She says
she hopes it gains a new layer of patina through use, making it darker in the
same way as the old library.
The Board
Room of the GSA was also built in American Tulip Wood and it has provided a
"great example of the kind of finish used in the library".
Prof Tom
Inns says the creation of the prototype is an "incredibly important day
for Glasgow School of Art".
He said it
was a "moving" reminder of what the library was like before the
devastating fire.
The GSA
hope to begin installing the library on-site next spring.
As for the
prototype - they hope it can go on public display - to show the craft and
effort required to bring a masterwork back to life.
Architecture
and design blog
Architecture
This
article is more than 6 years old
Things we found in the fire: Glasgow School of Art’s
restoration brings surprises
Glasgow
School of Art restoration works
From weird
relics to oak columns made of cheap pine, the rebuilding of Charles Rennie
Mackintosh’s library has unearthed some secrets. But will the replica leave it
looking like a cheap kitchen?
Oliver Wainwright
@ollywainwright
Mon 20 Apr 2015
14.02 BST
A Roman
sentry stands watch with a look of panic, as fireballs crash down around him
and bodies lie strewn among the rubble in the last moments of Pompeii. The
scene, depicted in Edward Poynter’s painting, Faithful unto Death, is still
legible on a scorched postcard pulled from behind the charred remains of wooden
panelling in the Glasgow School of Art last week. It was found clinging for
safety with a newspaper cutting from 1909, the year the building opened – and
it couldn’t be more apt. Standing in the burned-out wreck of the renowned
Mackintosh library, where the symphony of cabinetry has been reduced to
blackened brick walls and a few charcoal stumps, it looks as if Vesuvius could
easily have erupted.
Almost one
year after flames engulfed Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s masterpiece, destroying
students’ work moments before the degree show and leaving the world’s
architectural community speechless, as if they had lost a dear old friend, work
has just begun on the problem of how to rebuild it. Half of the building
survived unscathed, but the rest will require repair. However, the biggest
question hangs over what should become of the hallowed gem of the library,
regarded by many as one of the most important interiors of the 20th century –
which the school has vowed to rebuild exactly as it was. The eyes of the world
are watching: even Brad Pitt has been roped in as a fundraising ambassador, to
help reach the £35m target.
“It’s like
dealing with a precious text,” says David Page of Page\Park architects, the
conservation practice charged with the daunting task of reconstruction, as he
stands in hard hat and high-vis, a fluorescent sliver of hope in the blackened
scene. “This was Mackintosh speaking to the world. Now we need to piece his
message back together.”
The months
since the blaze have seen a healthy and heated debate, staged in public forums
and the press, on the right way forward. Some camps see a duty to rebuild an
exact replica; others believe such an act to be a Disney-like betrayal of an
architect who himself was radically modern.
“[Mackintosh]
was driven by a lifelong search for new forms in architecture and technology
and was never a copyist,” says Alan Dunlop, a Mack alumnus and professor of
architecture at Aberdeen’s Robert Gordon University. “I have no doubt that he
would reject the approach of building a replica.”
Julian
Harrap, the conservation architect responsible for the acclaimed reconstruction
Neues Museum in Berlin with David Chipperfield, which favoured a measured
combination of restoration and bold new insertion, also thinks now is the time
for bravery.
“The Mack
really has to be bold because the library was not properly being used in the
years running up to the fire,” he said. “The institution needs a vision for how
the library can once again become a symbol of Mackintosh and of the city, and I
believe that involves avoiding simplicity and avoiding the idea of a replica.”
Anyone who
visited the building as a tourist might have felt uneasy as the sacred library
was opened up for the tour, then swiftly locked shut after they left. Indeed,
even students were only allowed into the holy of holies for half-a-day a week.
This sense of preciousness has already infected the new studio building across
the street, where students have been told not to affix anything to the gleaming
white walls, in order to keep architect’s “driven void” light-wells sacrosanct.
They’ve retorted with a bold poster campaign: “Steven Holl’s perpetually blank
canvas: who are we preserving this space for?”
However the
famous library is rebuilt, will it ever be more than a shrine to the ghost of
Mackintosh? Tom Inns, the school’s director, is unclear of its future role. “It
had gone beyond a library,” he says. “We now have a functioning library
elsewhere, so the space will be used as a vessel for creativity – for students,
but also for the many other public audiences the art school caters to.” And
will the door still be locked? “The key was lost in the fire,” he says, “and we
might not put it back.”
He is
adamant that they are determined to rebuild the structure as faithfully as
possible to the original. It is the right thing to do – particularly because,
remarkably, all the information required to do so exists. Luckily for the
architects, the library was one of the most documented spaces in history, with
original construction drawings, a complete set of measured drawings taken in
the early 1990s and countless photographs, including the Guardian’s own
360-degree interactive panorama. But despite the thorough records, the fire
revealed a number of surprises.
“With
Mackintosh, you expect it to be amazing craftsmanship,” says Page. “We had
always assumed, for example, that the great timber columns holding up the
mezzanine, which really defined the room, were carved from single pieces of
oak. But the fire has shown them to be nailed together from a few lengths of
pine, then covered with a thin facing plate.”
“It’s
basically like a shop fit-out,” says Ranald McInnes, head of heritage
management at Historic Scotland, picking at the charred nails that now protrude
from these black stumps. The Kauri pine, from which the columns were built, was
a cheap ballast material, he says, brought back in boats from New Zealand and
readily available at the Glasgow shipyards. It has since become a protected
species, so there are now questions over what to use instead. Wouldn’t Mack’s
joiners just head to the nearest builders’ merchants and see what was going
cheap?
It’s not
quite so simple. The genius of the School of Art, and many of Mackintosh’s
other works, is the combination of off-the-peg materials with things that have
been exquisitely crafted. On the one hand, he specified timber “from the saw”
and plaster “from the float”, while on the other he was constantly on site,
breathing down his workers’ necks, insisting that the ends of steel beams be
carefully stripped and twisted into impossibly elaborate decorative curls. As
project manager Liz Davidson puts it: “He was a magician. He created magic out
of base materials.”
So can the
magic be restored? In their entry to the competition, Page\Park undertook a
forensic deconstruction of a single bay of the library, examining every joint
and unpicking the tricks of structure and ornament that Mackintosh deployed.
They’re confident they can remake it all. But there are questions about the
finish. Photographs from 1909 show a much lighter tint to the wood than the
dark treacly stain most will remember. If it’s rebuilt anew, it could have all
the atmosphere of a freshly fitted MFI kitchen.
“It will
feel new, but the patina will come with use,” insists Page. “We have to build
up from the base blocks – strip it back and then allow the clutter to develop.
We shouldn’t force it into the image that we remember.”
And what we
remember isn’t necessarily what Mackintosh intended. The great vertical
windows, for example, which run up the western elevation like a trio of crystal
chimneys, were replaced in 1947. Mackintosh had designed horizontal casements
with a more Japanese feel – so which is the more “truthful” to restore?
Similarly, his vision for the whole school was never completed. There are a
couple of empty niches in the entrance, where others are filled with decorative
mosaic; is now the time to fill them in? Such questions remain to be answered.
The
inferno, for all its horrendous destruction, has also provided an opportunity.
The fire suppression system – which was tragically almost complete before the
blaze, but delayed by the discovery of asbestos – will be finished, along with
services threaded through newly exposed ducts and voids. The notoriously leaky
north-light studio windows, ravaged by the flames, will be replaced with
versions that hopefully keep out the drips.
But above
all, the school should have the confidence to reinvigorate the building as what
it was always meant to be: a working art school. Muriel Gray, chair of the
board of governors (who has vowed that her first act will be to re-carve the
naughty graffiti she engraved into the library woodwork as a student) has
stated that the school of art “will die if it becomes a museum”. And Liz
Davidson is frank. “We’re going to rebuild it all with extreme care,” she says,
“then hand it over to the students to treat with extreme irreverence.”
