It is unusual that architectural news occupy the front pages of newspapers and that’s what happened this Saturday morning, when architecture lovers woke up grieved to see the pictures of the legendary Glasgow School of Art, a masterwork of the scottish architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh, in flames.

It is still early to assess the extent of the fire, which apparently was caused by the explosion of a projector in the basement , while some students attended a class, but for sure, as it happened after the fire of Gran Teatro del Liceo in Barcelona that very soon the reconstruction works, which may take several years, will began.

The fire has shocked not only the architecture community worldwide but a large part of the inhabitants of Glasgow, who were weeping from impotence in front of the fire of one of the major architectural highlights in the city.

The building was celebrating this year its 105th anniversary, being recognized as one of the main exponents of Art Nouveau in the United Kingdom and a Mackintosh architectural masterpiece .

Like most European art schools , the Glasgow School of Art was born in a small venue and had to be moved as the educational demand was growing in the mid- nineteenth century . At the end of the century , the school decided to organize a competition to design its new headquarters , calling a restricted competition between twelve scottish architects, and which was won by Charles R. Mackintosh, thanks to the influence of the former school principal Francis Newbery, who had been teacher and great friend of the architect.

The winning design organizes a complex program through a simple floor plan distributed in a U-shape volume which is of great complexity in its vertical sections.

Build in a narrow and sloping plot, the building is made of brick and masonry, and its interior and exterior spaces are plenty of details decorating the building as a complement to the construction, as Mackintosh defined the concept. The building is also notable for its asymmetrical facades, each of which with its own peculiarities , the main facade has large openings to the street while the rear façade looks out over the Glasgow rooftops through discrete slit windows.

For sure the reconstruction of the building will have to recover documentation and original plans from the architect who paid great attention to every decorating detail and who carefully designed each of the interior spaces according to the student needs. The library was one of the main spaces, composed by two volumes composed by dark wooden structures protected by handcrafted balusters, all furniture was also specially designed including book cases, chairs and work tables and even lights, all based on art nouveau elements mixing wood and metal details.

As Mackintosh pointed himself “what characterizes the artist above all else is his development of imaginative faculties ” a good dose of imagination and invention to recover this artwork and return it to its original state will be required and with no doubt , the Glasgow School of Art, today home to some of top contemporary artists, will know very well how to select the best skilled artists, engineers and architects who will be in charge of restoring the damage caused by flames in this masterpiece of Arts and Crafts.

For the moment they have already started a funding project to collect 1,000,000 pounds for its reconstruction named Mackintosh Building Fire Fund via the british Big Give website.

Picture credits to Richard P J Lambert. Creative Commons License