Restoration of the Mackintosh Building takes major step forward

https://www.a-n.co.uk/news/restoration-of-the-mackintosh-building-takes-major-step-forward

Glasgow School of Art has announced Page\Park Architects as the design team to lead the restoration of the Mackintosh Building after last year’s major fire

Page\Park Architects have been named as the design team which will lead the restoration of Glasgow School of Art’s iconic Mackintosh Building, following presentations by a shortlist of five leading practices in March.

“The team assembled by Page\Park Architects impressed us not only with their deep knowledge of the building, but of the wider work of Charles Rennie Mackintosh,” said Professor Tom Inns, Director of Glasgow School of Art. “They also bring an understanding of the building’s particular importance to Glasgow – its people and history – as well as of its status as an international design icon.”

He added: “This is the beginning of an exciting journey of discovery. There will be many fascinating questions to be addressed as we undertake this complex restoration project.”

David Page, Head of Architecture at Page \ Park Architects said: “We have, over many years, had the privilege to work on and in the context of the Mackintosh legacy, the highlight of which will now be the opportunity to bring The Glasgow School of Art into splendid re-use for its students and staff, the people of Glasgow and the huge audience beyond the city.”

The Glasgow-based architects lay claim to a track record in both restoring and reanimating the city’s major historic buildings. They have also worked more widely on array of Mackintosh’s designs from the domestic – at the Hillhouse, through commercial – at the former Glasgow Herald offices (now The Lighthouse), to his finest cultural and academic work at the School of Art itself. Work is expected to start on the building in spring 2016 with the objective of academic access from 2017-18.

Phoenix Bursary programme

The news comes as a specially curated group exhibition of new work by the artists supported by the Phoenix Bursary programme has been announced for the Reid Building at The Glasgow School of Art from 24 July – 2 August 2015.

Following the major fire in the Mackintosh Building last year, which dramatically affected the final year Fine Art students’ degree show, the GSA set up a programme with support a £750,000 grant from the Scottish Government and its sister academic institutions across the world. It offered the recent graduates up to 15 weeks studio time, a bursary and materials budget in order to develop their practice and create a project, with roughly half of the artists remaining in Glasgow with others taking the opportunity to work overseas.

Cabinet Secretary for Culture, Europe and External Affairs Fiona Hyslop said:“The response from institutions around the globe, in opening up their doors to welcome graduates from GSA, has been wonderful. I’m looking forward to seeing the work created by the artists as their talent rises from the flames.”

Saturday 16th August at Dumfries House

Today I had the pleasure of going on a Grand Tour of Dumfries House. After watching a short video in which Prince Charles, Duke of Rothesay welcomed us to the premises and gave us a brief introduction into his involvement in the estate.

The tour was fascinating, and I certainly want to negotiate access again as there is so much to take in.

There were a number of rooms where we had to watch where we were standing as the original Axminster carpets from the 1700's were still intact. Instead, digital photographs printed onto fabric were positioned on top of the originals on the floor. The same technique was used to replicate the tapestries that are usually located in the tapestry room but are currently being restored. The resemblance to the originals is somewhat remarkable, and has made me consider digital printing as a possible process to use in making artwork.

One of my favourite parts of the building was the Pewter Corridor. The original decorated ceilings were completed in 1908, but in the 1960s was painted over in battleship grey paint. In 2010, a section of the original highly elaborate decorative pattern was revealed by a team who spent 3 months painstakingly picking off the layer of grey paint to reveal what lied beneath. From this single dome, other artists were able to replicate the design on the other domes along the corridor.

One of the domes along the Pewter Corridor

In the Blue Drawing Room the Chippendale furniture was covered in a blue fabric specially commissioned and pattern taken from an original surviving piece of 18th century damask.

The  plasterwork on the ceilings shows a high level of skill and craftsmanship to produce, and I am interested in working with some of the patterns taken from the designs.

Likewise, in the Pink Dining Room there was a selection of creamware by Wedgwood in the Etruscan-pattern design. I would like to draw from these objects.

One of the artworks on the wall was painted in monochrome, with the intention of making it appear like a sculpture. It was very effective, and is interesting to bear in mind when considering 'object painting'.

Some of the frames in the rooms were carved into the wall panels, and so the artwork to go within these frames was often specially chosen to fit the predetermined measurements.

In the Entrance Hall there was another curious object, a Grand Orrery, a form of planetarium. It was regarded as a gentleman's toy as at the time it was thought that women did not understand astronomy.

Along the gallery corridor were a number of Chinese chairs, again with superbly patterned backs. These are something I would like to spend more time with.

After the Grand Tour I met Thomas Brackney, Assistant Curator, who kindly showed me into an area of the House that the tour had not taken me through, namely the servants area of the House. It was along one of the corridors here that I discovered a curious device that was in effect, an old form of intercom system. There was a wooden panel with a circle above the name of each of the rooms in the House. Each room in the House had a bell which was connected to the corresponding circle on the device. When someone rang the bell, the corresponding circle on the panel would move, thus indicating where the servant should go to.

I was also taken into the kitchen, which had a large cog system that operated a spit roaster, on which whole animals would be cooked.

Along the corridors in the servants area were numerous drawings of sections of the building and furniture from the House. I would like to spend some more time working with these drawings.

I am particularly interested in taking from the side elevations of some of the items of furniture.

As always, I was keen to get my hands on one of the maps of the estate, and am thinking of producing my own version of a map.