A Sunday tea time treat for us, a tour of the Glasgow School of Art in Glasgow. Another tour courtesy of the Doors Open event.
It won't come as a surprise that the entrance to Glasgow School of Art is appropriately sign posted in true Rennie Mackintosh style.
The main entrance is amazing. Funny though you can't describe it as grand. Nor is it lavish. It's "just right!" I think I like the fact it's not symmetrical like many of the other "pillared" buildings we had visited the previous day. As the front of the building spreads to the side you could be mistaken into thinking either side of the central entrance aspect are symmetrical but they are not. Long iron "rose like" bars rise up from the lower window lintels and if you look closely the "bud" element of the flower increases in age from left to right; starting off as a closed bud form and by the time it is repeated in the right hand side it becomes a more open looking flower. Our guide explained this symbolised an art student starting out and developing into a more mature student as their studies progressed.
We liked the entrance; grand stairs leading to quite a modest black door. The iron archway with a box in the centre also adds that little bit of magic.
Loved the brass door plates!
This is a view to the side of the building. Behind the long windows lie the library. Dark wood fills the library but these windows throw in generous amounts of natural light.
You get an idea of the scale of the windows here.
Unfortunately no photographs are allowed inside the building. They do tours during the year and it is worth a visit believe me. The interior has an indescribable aura and you get this feeling that the place exists to inspire and encourage the students that study within.
It won't come as a surprise that the entrance to Glasgow School of Art is appropriately sign posted in true Rennie Mackintosh style.
The main entrance is amazing. Funny though you can't describe it as grand. Nor is it lavish. It's "just right!" I think I like the fact it's not symmetrical like many of the other "pillared" buildings we had visited the previous day. As the front of the building spreads to the side you could be mistaken into thinking either side of the central entrance aspect are symmetrical but they are not. Long iron "rose like" bars rise up from the lower window lintels and if you look closely the "bud" element of the flower increases in age from left to right; starting off as a closed bud form and by the time it is repeated in the right hand side it becomes a more open looking flower. Our guide explained this symbolised an art student starting out and developing into a more mature student as their studies progressed.
We liked the entrance; grand stairs leading to quite a modest black door. The iron archway with a box in the centre also adds that little bit of magic.
Loved the brass door plates!
This is a view to the side of the building. Behind the long windows lie the library. Dark wood fills the library but these windows throw in generous amounts of natural light.
You get an idea of the scale of the windows here.
Unfortunately no photographs are allowed inside the building. They do tours during the year and it is worth a visit believe me. The interior has an indescribable aura and you get this feeling that the place exists to inspire and encourage the students that study within.
2 comments:
Glasgow School of Art houses only a small percentage of students who study there. The remainder are housed in a series of horrible buildings across the road. A new £50million building will replace these in Sept 2013. A competition was run for an up and coming architect to design the new building. The winner if you are interested was an American firm Steven Holl based in New York. I can't wait to see it built!
http://www.bdonline.co.uk/story.asp?storycode=3148238
Steven Holl
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