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Art Academy in Glasgow Architects: Steven Holl Architects, New York City Team: Chris McVoy, Noah Yaffe, Dominik Sigg, Henry McKeown, Craig Tait, Paul Twynam, Vicky Batters, Ian Alexander, Dimitra Tsachrelia, Rychiee Espinosa, Scott Fredricks, Jong-Seo Lee, Jackie Luk, Fiorenza Matteoni, Ebbie Wisecarver, Peter Adams, Rychiee Espinosa Structural engineers: Ove Arup & Partners, London Others involved in the project: see page 568
Glasgow’s prominent position among Europe’s culturally attractive cities is due in no small part to its leading art academy, and in particular, to Charles Rennie Mackintosh. His Glasgow School of Art, which was partially destroyed by fire in late May, had recently been named the best building designed by a British architect in the last 175 years. The new structure, the Seona Reid Building, is across the street from the Mackintosh building; it bears the name of a former director and houses the design faculty. At first glance the facade of this new building – made of green-tinted glass elements in different degrees of transparency and translucence – appears lightweight. However, the skin cloaks a concrete load-bearing structure – a foil to the clearly structured facade of Mackintosh’s masterpiece. In addition, the west side incorporates the adjacent brick building. Steven Holl’s design is characterised by the orchestration of light. Three 25-metre-deep cylindrical shafts oriented southward penetrate the entire volume and supply daylight to the building’s innermost spaces. Moreover, with a diameter of about 6 metres they make an important contribution to the air circulation inside the building. Ateliers with specific light requirements and other classrooms are situated on the north facade – along the oblique glass surfaces. The offices, cafeteria and presentation spaces, in contrast, occupy the southern side of the building. The different areas are linked by ramps with step-shaped undersides. Because integrated anchors with point-fixed glazing were employed, the fasteners of the curtain facade, with acid-etched, coated glass and ventilated cavity, are not visible in the seam pattern. The 2.73 metre wide and 1.35 metre high panels furnish a non-glossy surface – free of reflections and mirrored images. Only when the sun is particularly strong does the skin appear more opaque and tends toward a shade of white. At dawn and dusk the building’s visage changes: the window surfaces, which are concealed within the homogeneous cloak, become visible and give the building a soft glow.
2014 ¥ 5 ∂