The Glasgow School of Art celebrates its centenary with a series of birthday events to mark 100 years of the world-celebrated Mackintosh Building.     

Recently voted the best British-designed building of the last 175 years in a national survey commissioned by the Royal Institute of British Architects, the Mackintosh Building is regarded by many as Mackintosh’s best-known and most respected building.

Not only has it inspired the thousands of students who have studied within its walls over the last 100 years, but it has also become a favoured destination for a growing number of cultural tourists, so much so, that in excess of 20,000 visitors a year are accommodated on regular guided tours.
To mark Centenary Day on 15^th December, the School ran special anniversary tours of the building for 100 competition winners followed by the signing of a unique centenary donor scroll by Minister for Culture and External Affairs, Fiona Hyslop MSP. This was accompanied by music from the Scottish Ensemble and a performance of new work by renowned writer and GSA alumna Liz Lochhead.

The films Seven till Five – a day in the life of an art school (1933) by GSA graduate and pioneering film-maker Norman McLaren and the recent BBC documentary about the building, Mackintosh’s Masterpiece, were projected onto the east and west façades of the Mackintosh Building for the public to enjoy.

Director of The Glasgow School of Art Seona Reid said: “It is a real pleasure to have been able to celebrate the centenary of a building which has meant so much to so many people.  This 100 year old building is, of course, a building of striking and important architectural heritage and, with support from Heritage Lottery Fund and many other supporters of our Mackintosh Conservation and Access Project,  we are working hard to ensure  we can look forward to celebrating its bicentenary in another hundred years!  But the Building is not a museum. It is a working Art School building, full of students and the life they bring to it.  As much as its poetic and inspiring design, that is what makes the Mackintosh Building so special. “

Minister for Culture and External Affairs Fiona Hyslop MSP said: “There can be no argument over Mackintosh’s place among the most influential Scots of all time.  His masterpiece, the Glasgow School of Art, is surely the perfect example of the fusion of elegance and functionality that every architect and designer strives for.  When you see a list of the School’s alumni, it is clear that more than a little of Mackintosh’s creative genius has rubbed off on them.  I cannot think of a more fitting building to inspire our emerging creators, and that is why Scottish Ministers contributed £627,000 to the Mackintosh Conservation and Access Project from the European Regional Development Fund.”

From January to June 2010 a number of other events are also planned including:

February

• Future Thinkers Lecture – the first of four public lectures focusing on the future

• Maxwell MacLaurin Exhibition – an exhibition of work by students on the GSA’s Community Portfolio Clinic Programme. The programme, funded by law firm Maxwell MacLaurin, won a commendation at the Arts and Business Scotland Awards 2009, and aims to provide portfolio advice and support across the West of Scotland

• Formal launch of the GSA’s Digital Design Studio’s new premises at Pacific Quay Glasgow.  The space houses the world’s largest visualisation studios, the GSA/ARUP Sound Lab and is also the base for our ground breaking Medical Visualisation Project.

• Launch of the Living Archive Project

March

• Further Thinkers Lecture – the second lecture of the series

• The annual Fashion Show, this year drawing inspiration from the GSA’s archives from the 1970s, 80s and 90s

April

• Future Thinkers Lecture – the third lecture in the series

• GI – Glasgow’s international festival of visual arts includes a unique exhibition at the GSA of work by Alice Channer

• Room in the City Conference – a two day academic conference looking at civic space and including a keynote address by former Mayor of London, Ken Livingston.

May

• Future Thinkers Lecture – our final lecture in the series.

June

• Degree Show – the annual degree show and the conclusion of our centenary celebrations

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