Glasgow School of Art Mackintosh Building Devastated By Fire

[Strathclyder]

Glasgow fire: Art school's Mackintosh building ravaged

Glasgow's world-renowned School of Art has been gutted by another huge blaze, four years after part of the building was destroyed by fire.

Flames ripped through the celebrated Mackintosh building after it caught fire at around 23:20 BST on Friday.

The blaze has spread to nearby buildings, including the Campus nightclub and O2 ABC music venue, which suffered "extensive damage".

No casualties have been reported, the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service said.

Efforts to bring the fires under control are expected to be "prolonged", Deputy Chief Officer Iain Bushell said.

More than 120 firefighters have been sent to the scene and are faced with "an extremely challenging and complex incident", he added.

Scottish Fire and Rescue Service deputy assistant Peter Heath said "pockets of fire" remain, but were under control.

He said the School of Art building had been "extensively damaged" and that all floors were affected.

"We remain firefighting in what is a very challenging situation," he added.

Inspector Catherine McNally, of Police Scotland, praised the response of both the public and nearby licensed premises which were asked to evacuate.

The Mackintosh building was badly damaged by fire in May 2014 and was due to re-open next year following a £20 -35m restoration project.

Ben, an eyewitness, told the BBC the latest fire looked "much worse" than the previous one.

"This is a blaze, the building is just going up like a tinderbox. It's quite shocking," he said.

Connor Neil, 22, said people were being evacuated from their homes and there was a "big orange light" which could be seen from streets away.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-44504659

Unbelievable that this has happened again; just over 4 years after the last blaze & mere weeks after the Charles Rennie Mackintosh 150th anniversary celebrations. From what I can see, this confligation appears to have originated in the 1899 (east) wing, with it then spreading to the 1909 (west) wing, the area of the building devastated by the 2014 fire & where restoration work was ongoing. This fire sadly looks to be much worse than the last one, with the whole of the building engulfed & the flames spreading to adjacent structures, namely the Campus nightclub and O2 ABC concert venue.

The only silver lining of this whole sorry affair is that no fatalities have resulted from this blaze. The bravery and selflessness of the emergency services must once again be commended. At this stage, it is far too early to properly gauge the future of 'The Mac' going forward after this or to speculate the cause of the fire, but things most certainly look bleak.

Of all the things to wake up to, it just had to be this...

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

The restoration of the building after the previous fire there only four years ago was well under way and I wonder how much damage structurally has been caused in this latest fire.

 

[nlogax]

The restoration of the building after the previous fire there only four years ago was well under way and I wonder how much damage structurally has been caused in this latest fire.

It’s catastrophic. Larger fire than the previous one, upper floors and roof are destroyed. Absolutely awful.

 

[takno]

Worth pointing out that the art school is the utterly destroyed bit on the right. The caved in round roof on the left was a historically important cinema and one of the more significant music venues in Scotland. I'd be surprised if there is anything salvageable to the art school at this point apart from maybe the frontage, and I'm not holding out much hope for the ABC either, since the most important feature there was the roof

 

[Strathclyder]

The restoration of the building after the previous fire there only four years ago was well under way and I wonder how much damage structurally has been caused in this latest fire.

Looks to be totally gutted. Can't comment on the structural integrity of what's left, but this aerial view (a larger version of the image nlogax posted up-thread) is sobering to say the least. Quite frankly a miracle that no-one was injured, let alone killed:

And a gut-wrenching snapshot of just how vicious the fire was at peak intensity:

Not holding out much hope that it'll recover from this; same goes for the O2 ABC. Horrible, just horrible...

 

[John Webb]

Unfortunately 'Heritage' buildings seem particularly susceptible when being repaired. Numerous examples in the last 30 years or so - Windsor Castle, Uppark House to name but two.

The ironic thing about the 2014 fire was that while the fire started due to misuse of items in a student project, the fire spread through old ducts being prepared to take the pipework for a sprinkler system to protect the building.......

 

[thejuggler]

If it has existed before it can be rebuilt.

 

[158756]

If it has existed before it can be rebuilt.

Personally I don't think it should be. It is unlikely any part of the structure or contents will be salvageable. It was a great building, but it's gone now. You can't rebuild the history, it will never be Mackintosh. Even if sufficiently detailed plans exist you couldn't build it now exactly as it was in 1909. And if we're brutally honest about it, something modern would be of more use to the art school. It's not up to me though - if it can be done and the people of Glasgow want it, fair enough.

 

[yorksrob]

Personally I don't think it should be. It is unlikely any part of the structure or contents will be salvageable. It was a great building, but it's gone now. You can't rebuild the history, it will never be Mackintosh. Even if sufficiently detailed plans exist you couldn't build it now exactly as it was in 1909. And if we're brutally honest about it, something modern would be of more use to the art school. It's not up to me though - if it can be done and the people of Glasgow want it, fair enough.

Don't forget, in of Europe after WWII, whole districts of cities were rebuilt almost as they were, to the extent that it would be difficult to tell that they were ever destroyed.

Part of me wishes that we'd taken a similar approach in places such as Canterbury and Exeter, although the Festival of Britain era buildings that were built as replacements are probably period pieces in their own right now.

 

[Strathclyder]

If it has existed before it can be rebuilt.

Sadly, the damage this time around appears to be terminal. The interior is all but totally gutted and the remaining shell is now likely to be structurally unsound. As much as it pains me to say this, partial or complete demolition/deconstruction of the original structure is now a definite likelihood. However, as @yorksrob alludes to, a like-for-like rebuild taking as much from photographs, original plans/drawings etc. (Dresden being a prime example of this) could be a suitable avenue of restoration to go down here, but obviously with modifications to comply with modern fire safety regulations to prevent a repeat of Friday night/Saturday morning.

 

[Senex]

If you go back to when Europe's great cathedrals were built in the Middle Ages, and on into early modern times, each generation built in its own style and shewed little regard for the work of its predecessors, however good that work had been judged at the time. Yet nowadays when major restoration work is done, the tendency is to do pastiche rather than unashamedly do what those medieval precessors would have done. Many of us are clearly no comfortable with the architecture of our own time and really don't like it very much. But if we go into our comfort-zones and do pastiche, are we being true to our own time. We could certainly restore/reproduce/replace the Glasgow building, but given how total the destruction has been this time, would that really be the right approach, or should a really good modern building arise in its place. My private and personal view is to prefer the pastiche, which shews how out-of-love I am with modern architecture, but with a College of Art of all places, is that really the right approach. This is very much an area for debate rather than a decision by gut reaction.

 

[underbank]

Personally, I don't like the "rebuilds" which have the original facade but a modern interior. Yes, they may look good from the outside, but realistically, what's the point of that, when the inside is just a generic interior that could be anything/anywhere and is usually a compromise due to having to keep to the original footprint, original height, original floor heights, original window openings, etc. Most of the ones I've seen have had truly awful interiors that aren't even a nod to the original design. Either rebuild it to the original design as a carbon copy of how it was, or just demolish what's left and build a modern building instead without the compromises.

 

[Mojo]

Why does this building keep catching fire?

 

[DarloRich]

This is very sad. A lovely building that has been totally destroyed. it isn't for me to say if it should be restored or replaced but the destruction of such a precious building is a great loss to the city.

Why does this building keep catching fire?

I wouldn't like to comment.

 

[Busaholic]

Why does this building keep catching fire?

Proof that 'lightning doesn't strike twice' isn't statistically the case? It can work two ways, of course, somebody won a million on the lottery on two separate occasions.

 

[158756]

Why does this building keep catching fire?

Buildings under renovation seem to be more vulnerable to fire, but given this fire started at night apparently in the previously undamaged part of the building it doesn't seem (though of course we await the results of the investigation) directly related to the building work. Old electrics are probably favourite, again we'll have to wait and see though - we may never know though, especially if it is demolished.

 

[PaxVobiscum]

There’s an interesting article on the BBC website on the history of fires in Glasgow. However, there is one puzzling omission - the destruction of St Andrews halls (also within a mile of the Art School) in 1962.

The cause of that one was generally considered to be a discarded cigarette although the fact that it occurred immediately after a boxing match televised by the BBC (anyone else remember what TV lighting was like in the early 1960s?) may be worth remembering.

 

[Mag_seven]

Would love to see the building's fire risk assessment and the action plans to mitigate those risks!

 

[Strathclyder]

This doesn't sound good at all. Although, given the severity of the blaze and even taking the strength of the original brickwork into account, this is not at all surprising...

Glasgow School of Art's facades moved six inches by fire

The walls of the Glasgow School of Art have been moved six inches (15 cm) in places as a result of the fire, council leader Susan Aitken has said.

She said the movement of the building's facade had prompted fears for public safety.

She gave further details of the damage as the Secretary of State for Scotland David Mundell visited the site.

He said it was "shocking" to see the destruction but said the "UK government stands by ready to help".

The remnants of the art school are now under the control of the city's building control department.

A strict cordon has been imposed limiting movement and travel in the streets and premises adjoining the site in Garnethill.


Speaking from the site, Ms Aitken said: "It is a dangerous building, there is no question about that.

"The facade has actually moved quite considerably - about six inches.

"There is an imminent danger of collapse."

She reiterated the council was doing everything in its powers to help businesses and residents displaced by the fire.

She urged people to make contact with a council team based at the nearby dental hospital.

Mr Mundell said: "Today I visited the site of the Glasgow School of Art fire.

"It's a scene of devastation, utterly shocking to behold.

"Having seen the splendour of the painstakingly refurbished building just two weeks ago, it is an absolutely heartbreaking sight.

"My sincere thanks go to the fire service personnel who fought so hard to ensure no lives were lost and the damage was not even worse."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-44577483

Still, there's always the faintest glimmer of hopes that a full recovery is in some way possible here; the most likely method being through a meticulous, Dresden-style reconstruction with the appropriate fire safety modifications as already mentioned up-thread. This is one building that fully deserves it.

 

[GusB]

Can the building (what's left of it) really come back from this? I don't live in Glasgow, and I don't have any particular attachment to the building, but if it's so far gone, would it not be better to just let it go and build something new in its place?

I don't like so see historic buildings demolished, but I won't condone "rebuild at any cost" either.

 

[318266]

Can the building (what's left of it) really come back from this? I don't live in Glasgow, and I don't have any particular attachment to the building, but if it's so far gone, would it not be better to just let it go and build something new in its place?

I don't like so see historic buildings demolished, but I won't condone "rebuild at any cost" either.

It may be that it would have to be knocked down.

 

[318266]

But that's just a guess.

 

[SteveP29]

The discoball hanging from the ceiling in the ABC now lies on the floor of the ABC in about 8 million pieces

And gigs will be moved to the Academy now, complete with its appalling sound

 

[318266]

According to BBC Scotland, they will have to dismantle part of the building.