Titan Crane in Clydebank Receives Landmark Status

The Titan Clydebank Crane is trending on Twitter today as it's about to be bestowed the accolade of international historic civil engineering landmark! The fact that the title is also held by the Eiffel Tower in Paris gives some indication to its prestige in the worlds of civil engineering. That makes today a big day for the humble Glasgow crane!

The award conferred by four leading engineering institutions, is recognition of the structure's status as the world's first electrically powered cantilever crane and its contribution to Glasgow's shipbuilding industry. The well-known Queen Mary and QE2 ships were both constructed using the mechanism which in the early twentieth century, was considered the best in cutting-edge technology. Adam Hunter, chief engineer at Glasgow firm Sir William Arrol & Co. is accredited with designing the crane. His intelligent design and engineering prowess quickly caught on in local shipyards and at sites across the globe: the better-known Finneston Crane is a direct descendant!

It's great to see that over one hundred years since its inception, the Titan crane is being given the status it deserves as a symbol of the city's engineering heritage. Perhaps this is due to many cantilever cranes being eliminated from history through their demolition with the decline of the industrial West. The Titan Clydebank may no longer be operational but as of today, it's legacy is assured. 

Visit RCAHMS' website for more details about the crane or search SCRAN through the GSA Library catalogue for a strong selection of historic images.

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.

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.

New Website Follows Glasgow's 'Future City' Project

You may remember us blogging about Glasgow's selection as a 'smart city' in an earlier post this year. 

We were celebrating Glasgow's competition win to pilot how technology can make life in the city, smarter, safer and more sustainable. The competition had been organised by the Technology Strategy Board (TSB) - the Government's innovation agency. Glasgow's £24 million funding bid met with approval by the Board who have set up a number of specialist teams working on various technological projects around the city. A smartphone app for cyclists, intelligent street lighting and 'citizen science' mapping are some of the trail-blazing technologies in the pipeline which the public, academics and businesses will be encouraged to use and improve in a pilot focused on the 'smart' future of our cities.

We're revisiting the Future City /Glasgow project after discovering that a dedicated website has been launched making its work easier to follow online. The site brings visitors the latest news on the 'Demonstrator programme' as  it's been dubbed, with details relayed via press releases.

Check the website for details of the projects and to keep up-to-date with news. It's also worth navigating from the main page to read the blog discussing the nature of 'smart' and 'future' cities and to check the event-footage that's being streamed of events including science-related news from the ongoing UK Space Conference (Monday 15th to Wednesday 17th July). We found this video of the new City Operations Centre which will house the teams monitoring Glasgow's new CCTV network, the city's traffic lights and traffic cameras. You'd be smart to follow!

'Uneasy Balance' - New Book Edited by Christopher Platt

Chris Platt, Head and Professor at the Mackintosh School of Architecture is the editor of a new book 'Uneasy Balance,' a memento to the design and construction of the new building by Steven Holl Architects.

Published at the time of topping out, this slim, pocket-sized volume is a fitting tribute to the germination, growth and realisation of Holl's intelligent architectural design. The book is illustrated with specially commissioned photographs as well as drawings and sketches. Some of these drawings are the loose, inky architectural sketches from the office of Steven Holl Architects and some of the Mackintosh Building have been provided by the GSA's Archives and Collections Centre. The book contains four essays and an illuminating interview with Steven Holl in which he imparts the concept behind his "thin skin/thick bones" design, reveals some of his working practices and discusses architecture as art form.

Books are priced at £15 and can be purchased from the GSA shop. We'll also be cataloging a couple of copies to place on the shelves when the books reappear in September.

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.

'Ghost of Water Row' is RIAS 2013 Award Winner

Edo Architecture's evanescent art installation 'Ghost of Water Row' is among the dozen winners of the RIAS Awards 2013. The list of the twelve best buildings in Scotland was announced at an awards ceremony on Wednesday night with Edo's zero-budget, Govan-based submission scooping the accolade alongside big-budget projects such as The Beacon Arts Centre in Greenock and Aberdeen University's new £30m library.

Now in its second year, the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland (RIAS) Awards recognise architectural achievement in Scotland. The award organisers expressed delight with the number and quality of all 75 submissions with the varied award winners representing a vote of confidence for Scottish architecture.

To learn more about 'The Ghost of Water Row' which commemorates the late sculptor George Wylie, read our previous blog post. The full list of RIAS Award winners is here.

Cosmogenesis: 1,2,3 for the GFT!

With work in progress to add a third screen to the Glasgow Film Theatre on Rose Street, we thought we'd take the opportunity to take a closer look at the history of Glasgow's much loved, art-house cinema.

The GFT began life in May 1939 as The Cosmo and was the first art-house cinema to be opened outside London. Architect W.J. Anderson II of John McKissick & Son designed the building as a homage to the Curzon in Mayfair, the longest established art-house cinema in the UK.

The brown-brick, windowless facade and towered entrance are inspired by European modernist architecture of the time, notably that of the Dutch designer Willem Dudok best known for the brick Hilversum City Hall near Amsterdam. In the book Architecture of Glasgow held by GSA Library, the authors describe the building as set on a plinth of black Swedish granite and clad in Ayrshire brick with a cream faience trim. Unbeknown to many, Gillespie Kidd & Coia replaced the lighted glass canopy in the mid-1960s and rebuilt the offices which back onto Renfrew Street.

The Cosmo was reincarnated as the Glasgow Film Theatre in 1974. Since then, it has been remodelled to include two screens and Cafe Cosmo which will sadly cease to exist when the new 60-seat cinema is built on top of the existing bar. The cafe with its dimly-lit ambience has been a popular meeting place for conversation between film enthusiasts. Alasdair Gray may be making a thinly-veiled allusion to Cafe Cosmo in Lanark's opening line in his description of The Elite Cafe, "entered by a staircase from the foyer of a cinema." The eponymous hero who spends his time walking and visiting libraries and cinemas, may in Gray's imagination, have been a frequent visitor - especially given the artist's proximity to the cinema as a student of GSA in the 1950s. There are plans to develop a new cafe to the rear of the revamped cinema in addition to an office, kiosk and canopy and it will be exciting to see whether this feature retains its verve!

Today the GFT continues to contribute to the cultural and artistic scene in Glasgow with the £1.6 million development surely enhancing this position. The 1930s design marks it out from the run-of-the-mill entertainment multiplexes which welcome droves of sugar-frenzied cinema-goers through the doors to indulge in the guilty pleasures of the latest multi-million grossing blockbuster. Always the serious older sibling, the GFT is unique for the crowds it attracts to watch its cult screenings, something to which the success of the Glasgow Film Festival is testimony.

Cineworld may have the distinction of being the world's tallest cinema, but given its designated 'Carbunkle' status, it's the art-deco charm of the GFT that more stylishly represents Glasgow's continuing obsession with the pictures!

Brutally Honest - Scottish Brutalism Site from University of Strathclyde

The threat of demolition looming large over increasing numbers of Brutalist buildings has inadvertently thrust the style back into the public conscience. Down the road at University of Strathclyde, planners are still refusing to rule out demolition of its famous architecture building while in England, Preston Council's bid to block Preston Bus Station being granted listed heritage status rumbles on.

Brutalist architecture has courted controversy since its inception in 1950s Britain. Simultaneously held up as an affordable solution for public buildings and cheap housing and as an urban decay problem, the buildings have, over the decades, weathered the critics little better than the elements. As more beleaguered buildings are condemned to demolition, efforts are being stepped up to conserve the architecture style's heritage.

Enter research student Ross Brown who has launched the website scotbrut.co.uk to accompany the Scottish Brutalism project at the University of Strathclyde. The site is modestly being billed as a work in progress, downplaying the extremely useful and well-researched content on offer. The aim is to illustrate the quality and variety of the architecture style around Glasgow and the west region of Scotland through the continuous mapping, documenting and archiving of prime examples. There are a number of high-quality images of the Strathclyde campus and the Charing Cross area, as well as an article by Brown on Glasgow School of Art's former Newbery Tower. Our top tip would be to check the links to other sites, which lists Robert Proctor and Ambrose Gillick's project-blog on Roman Catholic Architecture in Britain, and the illustrated online database of Gillespie, Kidd & Coia images. The fact that many of these sites have direct relevance to the Brutalist style, is in itself, evidence of growing popular interest.

To be alerted to new posts from the scotbrut.co.uk website, follow @scotbrut on Twitter, or join the mailing list.

Plan to Restore Jaded Langside Halls has Green Light

Local architecture firm Collective Architecture have won the tender to begin restorative work on Glasgow's Langside Hall in Shawlands. While the Georgian exterior is still in good condition, the jaded Victorian interiors are in need of a refurbishment to transform the space into a social hub for the southside community.

The A-listed building is in fact, a rebuilding of the National Bank of Scotland, which in 1847, was located on Queen Street in the city-centre. Each stone used to construct the bank was moved to the building's current location in Shawlands for its conversion to public halls in 1902-03.

 

Engineer A.B. McDonald remodelled the halls to include a green-tiled entrance hall which the architects are referencing as their inspiration for the new interior design. The above CAD-drawing shows plans to extend the existing green tiles throughout the building to accentuate this Victorian period-feature.

The creation of a new emerald-green space comes as good news for local action group Southside Glasgow Heritage Environment Trust (SGHET) who have been spearheading the campaign to restore the halls to their former glory. This local committee were successful in their funding application to the European Enterprise Fund last year, bringing the total budget to conserve this hidden architectural gem to £4.8 million.

The development is part of Glasgow City Council's wider Shawlands Town Centre Action Plan which aims to reinvigorate Shawlands and its surrounds. Locals can look forward to a planned cafe-bar, restaurant, heritage information centre and cultural venue when work is completed after two years. In the meantime, the elaborate exteriors can still be enjoyed including the frieze-work and coat-of-arms, done by John Thomas, the same sculptor who worked on the Houses of Parliament.

Plans to Demolish B-Listed Building For Commonwealth Development Plans

A 1907 board school designed by architects Thomson & Turnbull is under threat of demolition following plans submitted by Glasgow's Celtic Football Club to replace it with an expanded superstore. The club want to knock down the disused London Road Primary School as part of their plan to regenerate the area around the ground in time for the 2014 Commonwealth Games. Included in the plans is the formation of a landscaped avenue paved with inscribed stones which would run from Dalmarnock Station past several key venues towards the football stadium. Due to financial budgets and time constraints, it seems unlikely the club's full plans could be realised before the start of the games, however the avenue is being heralded as a necessary development to make the area more attractive to the influx of visitors expected next year.

London Road Primary is understood to be Glasgow's sole remaining B-listed school and is a fine example of English Baroque with carved ornamental features and Venetian and circular windows in the pedimented end bays. Historic Scotland are bound to object to the proposed plans, however as the school has been unoccupied for several years, the case could well proceed on the basis of the building being structurally unsound. Councillors are in support of the club's plans, perceiving the school as an unnecessary eyesore making it even likelier that the building will eventually be razed. Indeed, it seems that the financial advantages to be gained from redevelopment in the East End will inevitably outweigh the costs of conserving some of its architecture.

Pastmap - Free Interactive Mapping Tool

An interactive map which allows anyone to map Scotland's historic environment online has just been launched by the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS). 'Pastmap' consolidates information previously held on five heritage-organisation databases into one multi-layered, online space. Visitors to the website can navigate to their area of interest, zoom in on a section, arrange the information into layers, and click on the map's objects for more information.

The visual nature of the site and it's easy-to-use controls means that it will probably appeal to both those with a professional interest and others who may simply take delight in exploring the archaeological and historic features of their local area. A great way to explore local heritage and architectural landmarks from the comfort of your armchair!

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/

Gillespie, Kidd & Coia on Radio 4

There are six days to catch up on a Radio 4 programme exploring the church architecture of Isi Metzstein and Andrew MacMillan, the innovative partners for Glasgow firm Gillespie Kidd & Coia during the second part of the 20th century, and the pioneers of a contemporary form of European architecture.

In post-war Britain, the Catholic Church drew on the visionary talents of Metzstein and MacMillan as a means of constructing places of worship which would meet its ambitions to expand Catholicism in Scotland. While the religious renaissance may never have been fully realised, the creative partnership between Metzstein and MacMillan flourished, culminating in their masterpiece at St Peter's Seminary at Cardross. Once rising statuesque out of the landscape, the site now lies derelict, abandoned in 1980, just 14 years after completion, due to structural changes in the church. The site is still regarded as hallowed land by many architects and enthusiasts, and there is still belief that it will, eventually, be conserved as a ruin.

In this half-hour Radio 4 programme, Jonathan Glancey discusses Scotland's landscape and the country's religious element to discover more about the lives of two of Glasgow's most extraordinarily talented architects. Listen in at the link:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01rqnf3

Glasgow Architect Practice Make Shortlist for RIAS Award

The Ghost of Water Row, an architectural art installation which existed for one night in Govan, has made it to the final 25 nominees for Scotland's most coveted architecture prize. The phantasmagorical structure made of Scottish pale spruce and permeable fabric will be judged against multi-million pound ventures, including Edinburgh's redeveloped Assembly Rooms, when the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland (RIAS) select a 2013 award-winner.

The comparatively modest project by Edo Architecture pays homage to the weaving trade which was established at Water Row in Govan before being replaced by Glasgow's flourishing ship industry in the early 20th century. It was built as part of a community engagement project and coincided with commemorative celebrations for the late Glaswegian sculptor George Wylie. Despite being created on a shoe-string budget, the structure's retrospective emphasis on local history has won favour among the judges who are also inspired by its ambition for a creative future in a site better known for its redevelopment focus than rich cultural heritage.

By encouraging the local community to engage with a bygone time, Edo Architecture hope to raise the ghost of Govan's cultural past. Read more about the project and the history of the site at the links below:
http://edoarchitecture.com/
http://www.hiddenglasgow.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=5995

Department of Architecture Celebration Event at Strathclyde University

The University of Strathclyde Architecture Department are hosting a joint event with the new Glasgow Society, to celebrate its purpose-built building at 131 Rottenrow and to showcase the works of GSA graduate and sculptor, Charles Anderson. The evening event on 26th March will be split into two parts; the first focused on Charles Anderson's successful career as a professional mural painter and sculptor, and the second on the construction of the architecture school by Fielden and Associates in 1965-66.

Charles Anderson studied Drawing & Painting at the School of Art under Donald Donaldson and Mary Armour, graduating with the Diploma in 1959. The many examples of his sculptural works to be found in Scotland include the Glasgow Charing Cross wall mural and concrete wall sculpture at the entrance to the Strathclyde Architecture School Building the event is being held. The second half of the evening will be led by Professor Frank A. Walker, an academic in the Strathclyde department and John C. Cunningham, another successful GSA graduate who was chief-architect on the Architecture Department project.

The event is bound to be of interest for all who have an interest in 1960's Scottish art and architecture, not least given its apt location in the iconic Strathclyde Architecture School Building.

Anyone interested in attending would be wise to book a place in advance at this link:
https://www.eventbrite.com/event/5787048217?ref=emobiem

Gillespie, Kidd & Coia Cabinet Display in Library

Library materials sit alongside items from the recently catalogued and conserved Gillespie, Kidd & Coia archive in a new display cabinet located at the entrance to the Library. Amongst the pieces which took our fancy are spectacles, rulers and drafting tools, a study of the 1970 Glasgow Summer School at which Jack Coia taught, and a humorous collection of misaddressed mail which the partners chose to keep for their amusement.

An introduction to Glasgow's most famous architecture firm of the twentieth century and captions relating to the materials provide more information. These can also be found, along with bibliographies of related sources, in the ‘Library Display Cabinets’ folder as part of the Archives and Collections course on the VLE. 

Watch out for more posts about our cabinet displays which we hope to fill with lots more interesting items over the coming months. Each display will aim to highlight the connections between library holdings and those in the Archives & Collections, and will cover a broad range of taught subject areas, and GSA alumni. Ask at the librarians' office or at Archives & Collections if you have any questions and check the newly-revamped ACC blog for further inspiration.
http://gsaarchivesandcollections.wordpress.com/ 

Walking Heads - City Tours App!

Downloadable audio tours encouraging anyone interested in exploring Glasgow's alternative, low-fi culture on foot are available from the website of Walking Heads, the team responsible for the app's creation and the organisation of walking tours around the city.

Two tours: one, exploring Glasgow's music scene; the other, Edinburgh's comedy circuit, are available as mobile apps for devices including iPhone and Android phones and MP3 players. Radio presenter and DJ Jim Gellatly acts as tour guide on an audio musical odyssey into 100 years of Glasgow's rich musical heritage, stopping along the way at some of the buildings which have coupled as some of the city's favorite music haunts. Among the highlights of architectural interest are the City Halls, The Old Fruitmarket, Barrowlands, King Tut's and The Panoptican.

The group occasionally run attended tours which are guided by two irreverent guides and receive rave reviews. Keep an eye on the website for details of forthcoming tours which take you off the beaten track in an exploration of some of the history cemented in Glasgow's buildings.
http://www.walkingheads.net/tours/

Kernels of History - Glasgow's Odeon Cinema

With demolition imminent at Glasgow's Odeon Cinema on Renfield Street, a posting by the Urban Exploration Forums gives us snapshots of this one-time great institution. 

Once the busiest picture-house in the city, the Odeon was designed by architects Frank T. Verity & Samuel Beverly in the early 1930s. It was originally built as a single 2800-seater cinema and opened as the Paramount Theatre in 1934. The building was promptly snapped up by the Odeon chain and flourished as a popular music venue - the Beatles and the Rolling Stones both famously played here in its halcyon days! The cinema was divided into smaller screens in 1969-70, by which time the neon lights lighting-up the uber-cool curved entrance and bare brick walls were also gone. The history books may critique Odeon for stripping the building of its glamorous 30s interiors to bring it in line with the company's corporate image yet, thanks to the building's Grade B listed status, the Art Deco facade and entrance-hall should be retained. 

In the days before Cineworld's domination, the Odeon, for many, was the main place to queue around the block, waiting for the doors to open on the latest picture. Those doors may have closed to the public in 2006, the building due to be transformed into another office block, but the photographs will ensure its legacy is always shown.
http://www.urbexforums.com/showthread.php/14800-Odeon-Cinema-Renfield-St-Glasgow-24-3-11-%28Permission-Visit

Geothermal Glasgow - Mining for Heat

For those of us raised in Scotland who were ever threatened with work down the mines at a young age, the latest BBC News is sure to raise a wry smile.

It has been widely reported that Glasgow's labyrinth of disused coal-mines could soon be used to generate up to 40% of the city's heat. A study of the city's hidden tunnels is under-way at Glasgow Caledonian University where researchers are hoping to find reservoirs which can be pumped to create geothermal energy. The hope is that Glasgow will become the third city in the world behind Stockholm and Hamburg to have under-street heating.

Using the blueprint developed by the research team, ground-source heat-pumps could be installed to begin extracting heat from the water. This untapped resource could then be used to warm homes. Sustainability experts and Scottish Power (who are part-funding the research) are championing the project as a solution to fuel poverty issues prevalent in some areas of Glasgow, particularly those with a mining legacy hidden beneath their feet.

A pilot scheme of the plans has been running in Glenalmond Street in Shettleston for the past ten years in  which time, the sustainable design initiative 'Sust' have deemed the scheme a success.

Read the news article, and the Sust report below:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-21443745
http://www.sust.org/pdf/glenalmond.pdf