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Glasgow School of Art Rennie Mackintosh building is on fire

http://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/a...-of-art-fire-crews-bravery-revealed-1-3422941

More than 100 firefighters practically formed a human shield on each floor of the A-listed building as the inferno took hold.

Senior officers at Cowcaddens Fire Station described how they initially began to search for two people reported missing.

Once it was discovered they were safe, a massive operation to stop the blaze from spreading was mounted.

Assistant Chief Fire Officer David Goodhew said: “It is always difficult fighting a fire in a Grade 1-listed buildings as the priority is always to try and preserve the structure.

“The Art School was always going to present us with a challenge and we knew it would be a hugely complex challenge.

“It is not a building designed with fire safety in mind and the things that make it so attractive, like the wooden panels, offer firefighters a significant challenge."
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Pickman's model said:
while the library "will be" rebuilt to the original design, much has changed in libraries over the past 100 years and it may be that a different design would be better for library staff and users although less in keeping with the building's design.
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The "real" library which holds the majority of stuff students and staff use is across the road in a more modern building.

In any case the design of the CRM building is of immense significance. It's one of the world's greatest pieces of architecture. One of the ways it is special is that everything from the largest to the smallest scale is designed as one and by a very individual hand (see the "mockintosh" industry for an illustration of the failure of others to live up to the quality of the original). Interfering with any aspect of the design affects the integrity of the whole building. There aren't many buildings that are good or historically important enough to justify being so precious about alterations but this is one of them.

Having said all that, one of the remarkable things about the building is that it continues on the whole to work very well on a day to day basis doing what it was originally designed to do, in spite of being over a century old. Something you can't necessarily appreciate visiting as a tourist.
 
teuchter said:
The "real" library which holds the majority of stuff students and staff use is across the road in a more modern building.

In any case the design of the CRM building is of immense significance. It's one of the world's greatest pieces of architecture. One of the ways it is special is that everything from the largest to the smallest scale is designed as one and by a very individual hand (see the "mockintosh" industry for an illustration of the failure of others to live up to the quality of the original). Interfering with any aspect of the design affects the integrity of the whole building. There aren't many buildings that are good or historically important enough to justify being so precious about alterations but this is one of them.

Having said all that, one of the remarkable things about the building is that it continues on the whole to work very well on a day to day basis doing what it was originally designed to do, in spite of being over a century old. Something you can't necessarily appreciate visiting as a tourist.
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When I visited (a v long time ago) one of the tutors was there when we were going round and explained the proportions and subtlety of the various elements. I always felt that Mockintosh was 'wrong' but had no idea why (I'm not artistically trained or anything)- he managed to explain how elements worked together really clearly. I have no idea who he was, but his love for the building really shone through.
 
teuchter said:
Official statement on cause of fire

http://gsapress.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/statement-from-glasgow-school-regarding.html
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When I was a student we mounted drawings on 4mm foamboard (if we could afford it). Now if seems they cover whole walls in 50-75mm of foam then grout the gaps with aerosol foam. Doing that with a hot projector running does sound risky: but building sites have similar processes with halogen lights nearby...... Sadly this shows that art installations do need risk assessments.
 
How on earth. I thought they'd have more effectively fireproofed in the rebuild.

You can see from the various footage on twitter, it's completely fucked.
 
Seems to have been a far more extensive fire than last time. It's very sad indeed.

It must have been for the ABC - across the road - to have caught light too.

My daughter was just at a gig at the ABC a few days ago. Tuesday I think.
 
danny la rouge said:
Seems to have been a far more extensive fire than last time. It's very sad indeed.

It must have been for the ABC - across the road - to have caught light too.

My daughter was just at a gig at the ABC a few days ago. Tuesday I think.
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Roof has collapsed on the o2 ABC now apparently
 
Fire apparently engulfed the whole building within half an hour of starting. I know nothing about the structural issues but assumed after last time there would be lots of systems in place to restrict fire. Fire retardant doors and walls, sprinklers. I wonder if it spread quickly through the vents again. So many questions about how this could happen.
 
Sunset Tree said:
I was at a gig there last year, that's quite an old building with an interesting history too, although will be a footnote to the art school I'm sure.
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Yes, I've been to many gigs there over the years. Historically and culturally important for music in the city, but not of much architectural merit. And certainly not as important as the art school.

It's strange to feel sad about a building. But I felt sad four years ago and I feel sad this morning.
 
friendofdorothy said:
how could this happen again?
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I was just reading this article about the rebuilding process since the last fire

Glasgow School of Art (GSA) had gone to extreme lengths to restore the Mackintosh building after the 2014 fire.

The school described itself as "custodians of an iconic piece of world architectural heritage" with a responsibility to restore it for students and staff.
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Of course it's too early to say what has happened, but people are going to feel GSA have failed in their responsibility as custodians. Fire prevention should have been the highest priority.
 
The ABC is not across the road by the way, it's directly behind in the same block.

It was still running as a cinema when I was at the GSA so odd to see it described as a culturally important gig venue now...
 
teuchter said:
The ABC is not across the road by the way, it's directly behind in the same block.
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Yeah, you're right. I was thinking it was on the other side of Scott Street, next to the CCA, but I was just looking at its Wiki page and the picture there clearly shows that it isn't.

I've seen films and gigs there. One of my claims to fame is that I stood next to Stephen Pastel at an Arab Strap gig there once.
 
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