Exhibition: Building Scotland 1945-1985

A photographic exhibition exploring Scotland's recent past through its twentieth century architecture is free to view throughout August at Glasgow City Heritage Trust. There are some unlikely additions to the roster which have been selected for the important points they make about Scotland's history between 1945 and 1985. Typographical House, Glasgow's derelict 1950s office-block at Clyde Street is one of the more surprising entries which is highlighted for its rarity as a small-scale office building, and its social history links, once serving as home to the Graphical, Paper and Media Union. Other structures such as Sillitto House in Edinburgh and the M8 Bailleston Interchange pull off the same feat; the commonplace propelling us to renewed appreciation of the local built environment and to reflect on what the architecture says about the people who inhabit it.

Docomomo Scotland, active campaigners for the conservation of Scotland's twentieth century architecture produced the exhibition for Glasgow City Heritage Trust. Docomomo Scotland is the local branch of Docomomo International, the committee for the documentation and conservation of buildings designed in the Modern Movement. Their organisation's website is well worth a gander for links to news items about the event and to related websites including this self-made Google map of 60 key Scottish monuments. From the website, you can also access this year's annual edition of MoMo World Scotland, an excellent, newsy introduction to modernist architecture in Scotland.

Building Scotland: 1945-1985 runs until September 2nd at the Heritage Trust's offices in Bell Street - directions here. Some of the examples of the structures on display can be browsed via the BBC's news website here.

The Eiffel Tower on the Google Cultural Institute

The latest offering from the wonderful innovators at the Google Cultural Institute has a certain "je ne sais quoi." Paris' most visited monument, The Eiffel Tower has been given the digitial treatment in an exciting new project which, (attention all architects!) educates on the monument's masterful construction.

Three online exhibits blend the Towers's history with an excellent collection of items including rare archival images, photographs from the late nineteenth and early twentieth century and even reproductions of the original architect's plans by Gustave Eiffel.

The first exhibit explores the birth of the Eiffel Tower while the second provides step-by-step details of the construction of the monument through a showcase of itemised photographs and sketches. A look at the Tower's inauguration and first few visitors lies in the third exhibit. Its social impact was immediately manifest by the visitors' willingness to climb 1710 steps to reach the top! The Google Street View Team have filmed 360-degree views of the monument's architecture and provide the panoramic views seen over Paris on making the ascent.

Constructed in 1889, the Eiffel Tower was built as a tribute on the 100 year anniversary of the French Revolution. In the same year, Paris held its Exposition Universelle, an exhibition for participating nations to showcase the advancements made in a heavily industrial age. The Tower's construction in two years, two months and five days is still hailed as an architectural achievement and an astonishing feat of French engineering. It remained the highest structure of its kind in the world for 40 years (a tile held today by the Burj Kalifa in Dubai) and continues to attract over 7 million visitors a year. As well as being France's most iconic symbol, this also makes it one of the world's most visited monuments!

We blogged about the marvellous Google Cultural Institute on the GSA Library Art & Design blog when it launched back in October last year. The virtual museum is amassing worldwide acclaim as it gathers momentum with the collections of some prestigious galleries and museums freely accessible to all. This latest project is tremendously exciting for bringing to life the architectural vision of Gustave Eiffel in the late nineteenth century and for the resources capabilities as a valuable educational resource! Vive la Google!

Frances McCourt: Carbeth Re-exhibited

Carbeth, the small township of huts is recapturing the public imagination after 90 years of sustainable living in the woods north of Milngavie. This is amply demonstrated by this week's BBC News story and the revival of Frances McCourt's exhibition of photographs, inspired by the character of the place.

Ayrshire-born McCourt first exhibited photographs of the huts at Street Level Photoworks in Autumn 2010. This time round, her work goes on show at the Lillie Art Gallery, near Milngavie railway station. See directions here. As well as serving as a beautifully serene collection, works like the examples pictured here should interest anyone following the 'Thousand Huts' campaign: a move to up the ante on sustainable rural development in Scotland. Since the Carbeth hutters' success in raising the funds to buy the land, 'hutting' appears to be gathering momentum with much to be said for the power of community to bring about green initiatives.

Frances McCourt's photograph series can be seen until 16 August at the Lillie Art Gallery. For more detail on the history of Carbeth and for links to the community's groups, read our previous blog post.

Library Outing to St Peter's Seminary, Cardross

Last Saturday, a troupe of intrepid ramblers, otherwise known as GSA Library & Learning Resources team, embarked on a self-guided tour of the Kilmahew Estate in Cardross. We had absconded from Garnethill with one simple mission: to find the ruins of Gillespie, Kidd & Coia's masterpiece, St Peter's Seminary. And, of course, to discuss it over lunch! It's fair to say that this had all the hallmarks of a Gillespie, Kidd & Coia pilgrimage being made in the footsteps of early Christian missionaries, Scots nobility and trainee priests as we soon discovered from our appointed tour-guide, Architecture Librarian David Buri!

We set off in the morning under a murky-looking sky and proceeded into the woods at Kilmahew Estate - a moving sea of cagoules and backpacks. Thankfully for us, the weather was on our side, and as we progressed further from the perimeter and through the rhododendrons, the only thing we had to fear was the odd crack of a golf-ball from Cardross Golf Course, in dangerously close proximity to the track! Stepping through the undergrowth, we tried to recreate in our minds the original grandeur of the the estate's ornamental gardens, driveways and parkland. Two exceptionally tall redwood trees flanking the path at the original entrance were a reminder of the estate's historic roots and the status it would have enjoyed, only decades ago. 

At the top of the route we reached our destination: the dramatic ruins of St Peter's Seminary, built in the 1960s and abandoned since 1980. The post-apocalyptic scene we encountered is something to behold: a derelict building, ravished by time, blemished by grafitti, yet still powerfully capable of inducing frissions down the spine. Perhaps it's down to our current fetish for all things Brutalist, but this was similar to experiencing the sublime in nature - achieved through architecture!

The photos we're used to seeing in the GKC Archive in GSA's Archive and Collection Centre are black and white so we were unprepared for Kilmahew Estate's vivid colours. Sienna-cobbled stonework, red tree-bark, green, lilac and pink shrubbery and neon grafitti have created a unique collage: something like a forgotten space-ship crash in medieval times or the set of a science-fiction film! At close range, it's overwhelmingly apparent why the seminary is often given the accolade of being the best example of work by partners Andy MacMillan and Izi Metzstein and is revered by many as the most important piece of twentieth-century modernist architecture in post-war Britain. The contrasting curved and angular walls of the complex envelope the ruins of the once standing Kilmahew House which once stood as the structure's fourth wall. The majestic design and the scale of the concrete build is incredible; as too is the clear level of disrepair. We were thrilled, surprised and dismayed all at once!

As one of the few post-war buildings to be granted A-listed status, there is something melancholic and aesthetically-alluring about the seminary's abandonment, demise and unorthodox appropriation by grafitti artists. While its conservation seems to be something of an architectural frisbee, plans to conserve it as a community space were submitted by landscape architects erz in February of this year. To read more about the proposed rehabilitation of St Peter's, make sure to check for updates on Glasgow Architecture's website.

Reincarnation emerged as a recurrent theme as we followed the tour onwards. The entire Kilmahew Estate has had many incarnations - each new vision and design has been followed by decline and ruin. After the excitement of the seminary, we also discovered the ruins of nearby Kilmahew Castle, and explored the gardens where an ornamental pond, waterfall and rhododendron tunnel can be found. It was then onto a nearby farm-shop and tearoom for a well-deserved lunch and post-tour analysis! We even found time to stop at nearby Geilston Hall on the road back to Glasgow, a drill-house designed by a young Charles Rennie Mackintosh in 1889.

The tour is free to download from The Royal Geographical Society's website as part of the Discovering Britain project. You can download written and audio guides from the website. The booklet (available to download here: Kilmahew – walk booklet and in stock in GSA Library) includes the black and white images of St Peter’s Seminary from the GSA Gillespie, Kidd & Coia archive. Check the ACC blog for related GKC posts.

RIBA Online Exhibition for Bedford Lemere & Co.

The latest online exhibition from the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) provides a comprehensive platform for exploring the architectural photography of Bedford Lemere & Co. 

'Recording the New' is a plotted history of the establishment, rise and reputation of the photography firm between 1870 and 1930, revealing images from the photography firm's vast portfolio and snapshots of the public archive, held by English Heritage. Based on the exhibition of the same name held at the V&A in 2011, it is a glimpse into the ongoing project by English Heritage to conserve, catalogue and scan their archive of photographs and negatives- one of the largest relating to the photography firm. The aim is to make digital copies of all the images accessible online. 8,000 can already be searched through the English Heritage Archives, providing those impressed by the exhibition with a further avenue for research. 

Formed towards the end of the nineteenth century by founders Bedford Lemere and son Harry, the London-based photography company documented changes to Britain as it teetered uncertainly on the brink of the twentieth century and then advanced into the new technological age. Architect clients and designers commissioned the firm to take photographs of new works from large-scale architectural works to domestic interiors and new urban developments. Today these photographs of now historic settings and features provide a visual record of our heritage. They are also key examples of the period's growing interest in the medium of photography as a means of capturing pioneering change.

GSA Library hold two collections of photographs by Bedford Lemere; one taken of Glasgow City Chambers and another of interiors designed by influential designers including Morris & Co. and Grinling Gibbons. These can be consulted in the Mackintosh Library. The Archives & Collection Centre also keep photographs taken of the Art School in 1910. For an appointment to view either item, visit the Librarians' Office on Level 1 of the Library, or see contact details for the School's archive at this link.

Emotion Recollected in Sustainability - Carbeth's Hideaway Huts

If you go down to the woods today, you're in for a big surprise... that's if like me, you've only just discovered the eldritch charm at Carbeth. The huts made the news when Carbeth Hutters Community Hutters were granted a loan which is helping the community to buy their land.

The development of huts in the area north of Milngavie has existed since 1919. During the second world war, families from Clydebank stayed at Carbeth to escape the bombing of industry on the Clyde. Gradually, more huts were built and a small community was formed. Today, Carbeth is part of The Thousand Huts movement, which aims to promote hutting as a sustainable way of living that gives city-dwellers contact with the countryside. Around 140 self-powered cabins, huts and shacks form the collective, all of which rely on water standpipes, solar panels and wind turbines to sustain the inhabitants. 

In an age of convenience and energy expenditure, Carbeth makes a useful case-study of our relationship with place and how sustainability ethics inevitably stand to influence the future of design. It is intriguing to reflect that the community's original settlers may only have been searching for a calm oasis outside Glasgow when they began hand-building the community 80 years ago. Perhaps unbeknown to them, they were in fact laying the foundations for an eco-friendly ideal which today, is actively supported by people enjoying the same tranquility in the wooded retreat.

Architects such as Torsten Ottesjo show that improvisation and functionality are common concerns in the architecture profession. Surprising that the values of self-reliance and responsibility for fuel-use should take root in communities like Carbeth.

See also artist Frances McCourt's photography works like the one above compiled for an exhibition at Street Level Photoworks in Glasgow.

http://www.carbethhuts.co.uk/

Spomeniks - Lost Between Sculpture and Architecture

Jan Kempenaer's series of photographic works focusing on Spomeniks, the abstract, concrete monuments punctuating the boundaries of the countries once comprising the former Yugoslavia, is available to view here. Kampenaer's work is preoccupied with the 18th century Picturesque tradition and his photographs of these oddly incongruous structures consider the enforcement of societal rules upon the natural landscape. Out of the many hundreds of Spomeniks commissioned in the years following World War II, most have since been demolished or neglected, their location only discoverable through committed research or spontaneous encounter in the wooded, mountainous regions where they were constructed. The isolation of these once magnificent emblems of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia raises interesting questions around the function of architecture which could be thought of as ideologically defunct. Should the Spomeniks be confined to history or should their use be reconsidered, as perhaps Kempenaer's photographs intend.

Above Scotland

'Above Scotland' is an excellent small exhibition currently showing at the Lighthouse in Glasgow. It uses superb aerial photography to explore how Scotland's settlements have been developed in response to the landscape, and is based around the ley themes of ritual and religion, taming the earth, defending the land, enlightment, and engine room. 'Above Scotland' runs until 3 Feb 2013 and is free; it is accompanied by three books which will shortly arrive in GSA Library.

CONTEMPORIST

 

 

CONTEMPORIST, as this modestly written blog states, is a celebration of contemporary culture focused on architecture, design, art and travel. The emphasis here is on lavish visuals with the blog publishing one large picture of some avant-garde piece of design each day. An important stream of news on innovative building design is readily available by visiting the link http://www.contemporist.com/category/art/ .

Churches in the modern world

A current exhibition (http://www.thelighthouse.co.uk//visit/exhibition/churches-in-the-modern-world1) at the Lighthouse in Glasgow presents case study buildings which illustrate how some post-war church architects and their clients in the UK moved away from tradition and conservatism to modernity. It explores the wider context of religious, social and urban change, and is one of the outcomes of an Arts and Humanities Research Council supported project led by Dr Robert Proctor of the Mackintosh School of Architecture. On 26 September at 6pm there will be a seminar at the Lighthouse with three speakers, including Bob Proctor, Dominic Wilson talking about F X Velarde, and Diane Watters on Scottish church architecture.

Close encounters - of the Thomas Annan kind

The recently refurbished Scottish National Portrait Gallery has an excellent small exhibition of the work of pioneering Victorian photographer Thomas Annan. In 1866, Glasgow's City Improvement Trust set about planning major improvements to the city. They commissioned Annan to document what was going to be demolished, and the result was the first photographic record ever made of slum housing and a fascinating and haunting series of photographs of closes, wynds and vennels in its own right. The images are set against a large scale map of the city which graphically illustrates the density of the housing which was swept away.

Britain from Above

More than 16,000 images from one of the earliest and most significant collections of aerial photography of the UK have now been made freely accessible online. Launched by English Heritage and the Royal Commissions on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland and Wales, the Britain from Above website features some of the oldest and most valuable images of the Aerofilms Collection, a unique and important archive of over 1 million aerial photographs taken between 1919 and 2006.

Edwin Smith photographs

The Moray Art Centre at Findhorn is hosting an exhibition of the vernacular architectural photography of Edwin Smith (1912-1971), in conjunction with the RIBA. The Centre's website has a few images and some background information. Here in Glasgow, GSA's library holds an example of Smith's work in the form of a limited edition artist's book of linocuts of geometric patterns, people, animals and emblems.

Images from GSA Archives and Collections

GSA's Archives and Collections have been busy adding further images from the collections to their Flickr site, some of which will be of particular interest to architects. They include 20 images of Charles Rennie Mackintosh's Art Lover's House competition entry, published in 1902 by Alexander Koch; various Beaux-Arts drawings by Eugene Bourdon; and photographic highlights from the post-war Gillespie, Kidd & Coia archive.