New Building for Glasgow School of Art

VISION
The Glasgow School of Art (GSA) is Scotland’s premier art school, internationally known and respected. Since being founded in 1845, we have continued to grow, providing world-class creative education and research in architecture, design and fine art – and making a significant economic, social and cultural contribution to the world around us.

Today, our ambitions are as strong as ever, but our current estate (with the exception of the notable, Grade A-Listed Mackintosh Building) is a significant barrier to achieving them. The school campus is spread over nine academic buildings and is simply no longer fit for purpose. Therefore, after an extensive appraisal of options, we have developed a vision and a plan for a redeveloped urban campus. To help us confirm that masterplan and deliver Phase 1 – on a site opposite the Mackintosh Building – we have launched an international competition to find an architect-led design team.

We have engaged independent competition organisers Malcolm Reading Consultants to manage this process, and to handle all enquires relating to the competition.

CHALLENGES
The objective of the competition is to select a world-class design team that is capable of interpreting our educational objectives to create beautiful – and practical – architecture in an extraordinary setting. However, with our vision to create a world-class environment for creative education and research come a number of major challenges. Not only must prospective design teams consider the many and complex requirements of a modern art school, but also its urban location and relationship with Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s ‘masterwork’ and a potential World Heritage site.

FREEDOM
The competition itself will be a two-stage process: the first to establish a shortlist; the second to determine a winner. There is no expectation of a definitive design at either stage. Instead, what is required is a creative response to the competition brief – the ultimate challenge.

Competitions are nothing new for The Glasgow School of Art. In 1896, we invited submissions from 11 architects’ practices for a new school in the centre of the city. The Governors of the time stated that ‘Architects permit themselves as much freedom of judgement as is compatible with the conditions, as herein set forth’. The winner was 28-year-old Charles Rennie Mackintosh (then working for Honeyman and Keppie), whose iconic building will remain at the heart of our new urban campus.

This competition is seeking, in the first instance, an architect-led team not a design. It offers a unique opportunity to leave a physical legacy, to shape the educational experience of our students, and to keep The Glasgow School of Art at the forefront of creative education and research for generations to come.

http://www.malcolmreading.co.uk/gsa/

Brief (PDF)