0:01:10 > 0:01:14MECHANICAL WHIRRING
0:03:31 > 0:03:34"What do you build opposite an architectural masterpiece?
0:03:34 > 0:03:35"Discuss."
0:03:36 > 0:03:38Hopefully another architectural masterpiece!
0:03:38 > 0:03:40Well, you've got a choice haven't you?
0:03:40 > 0:03:42You either do something that's totally deferential
0:03:42 > 0:03:46and just kind of cowers under the presence of-of greatness,
0:03:46 > 0:03:48or you have a go.
0:03:48 > 0:03:51That energy and effort and fear that you hope the architect has
0:03:51 > 0:03:54when he starts to try and build a building
0:03:54 > 0:03:56opposite a building like this,
0:03:56 > 0:04:00you know, that's got to be a recipe for, you know, energy, at least.
0:04:00 > 0:04:04And, hopefully, if you mix that with great skill
0:04:04 > 0:04:06then you get a great building.
0:05:22 > 0:05:25I've worked in really sick buildings,
0:05:25 > 0:05:27I mean, places where not only is it not inspiring,
0:05:27 > 0:05:29it just makes you want to end it all,
0:05:29 > 0:05:30and it's quite hard to analyse
0:05:30 > 0:05:32what it is that's wrong with it.
0:05:32 > 0:05:36You think, "What's wrong with this space? Why is it so depressing?"
0:05:36 > 0:05:40What you're asking now is what is it that creates place out of space.
0:05:40 > 0:05:42Yes.
0:05:42 > 0:05:45So, what gives it an identity that makes you want to go there every day,
0:05:45 > 0:05:47and work and talk to people and ignore them or hide,
0:05:47 > 0:05:50- and that kind of stuff, and be yourself.- Yes.
0:05:50 > 0:05:52And I suppose any building that does that
0:05:52 > 0:05:56has to be thought through, be very complicated and very simple
0:05:56 > 0:05:59- at the same time. So it has to be very articulate.- Yeah.
0:05:59 > 0:06:01And that's what...
0:06:02 > 0:06:04Mackintosh - example of good.
0:06:04 > 0:06:06Other buildings - examples of bad,
0:06:06 > 0:06:08because you just don't want to be in them.
0:06:39 > 0:06:43I distinctly remember the experience of going into the building,
0:06:43 > 0:06:46going up the lift, along a corridor, through a door,
0:06:46 > 0:06:48along another corridor, into another door
0:06:48 > 0:06:51until I eventually ended up, in the tiny, cramped little space
0:06:51 > 0:06:55that was my working environment, with a slit window
0:06:55 > 0:06:57on to the alleyway out the back.
0:06:57 > 0:06:58So you totally kind of...
0:06:58 > 0:07:01I actually had a mental image of myself as being
0:07:01 > 0:07:03like some kind of a rodent in an experiment,
0:07:03 > 0:07:06in this kind of rabbit hutch.
0:07:51 > 0:07:57Now, I know that some students were, er, sad to leave the Newbury,
0:07:57 > 0:07:59and sad to leave the Foulis.
0:08:02 > 0:08:04We had a party.
0:08:09 > 0:08:14And we had cleared out both buildings so that people could
0:08:14 > 0:08:16write graffiti on the walls.
0:08:18 > 0:08:22A lot of the graffiti was about the fondness
0:08:22 > 0:08:25that people had for those buildings.
0:08:25 > 0:08:28In many cases, not really fondness for the buildings per se,
0:08:28 > 0:08:32but fondness for the experiences and the enjoyment that they'd had
0:08:32 > 0:08:34in the buildings while they were studying there.
0:09:04 > 0:09:07Although it had to go. There's no question, it had to go.
0:09:07 > 0:09:09No, no, you're right, yeah.
0:09:09 > 0:09:11But when I saw that big sort of mechanical dinosaur
0:09:11 > 0:09:14eating it for breakfast one morning,
0:09:14 > 0:09:18there was a slight element of... A little tear came to me.
0:09:19 > 0:09:21At the time, I thought,
0:09:21 > 0:09:22"Oh, no, this is terrible,"
0:09:22 > 0:09:25but I know now that was just a sentimental reaction.
0:10:52 > 0:10:57What do you think of the new Steven Holl building?
0:10:57 > 0:11:00I've seen the plans and sections, and models,
0:11:00 > 0:11:03artists impressions of the spaces,
0:11:03 > 0:11:05and the studio spaces look brilliant.
0:11:17 > 0:11:21They made huge effort to create energetic, great spaces,
0:11:21 > 0:11:25and they've made a huge effort to make the most out of light.
0:11:25 > 0:11:26It should be an exciting building.
0:11:26 > 0:11:30And it's got that route through it a bit like the Mackintosh building.
0:11:30 > 0:11:31The first years start at the top,
0:11:31 > 0:11:33and then you kind of work your way down,
0:11:33 > 0:11:37- so every day you're going past all the other departments.- That's good.
0:11:49 > 0:11:52Our original thought was, in developing that site,
0:11:52 > 0:11:55was actually that we would pull down the students' union.
0:11:55 > 0:11:57And it was Steven Holl, the architect,
0:11:57 > 0:12:00who proposed that we actually keep the building
0:12:00 > 0:12:05because he didn't want to have a kind of modern building
0:12:05 > 0:12:08facing off the Mackintosh building.
0:12:08 > 0:12:11He's very respectful of the Mackintosh building
0:12:11 > 0:12:15and he thought to have a completely contemporary, matt glass building
0:12:15 > 0:12:21facing a stone building would just be almost an aggressive act.
0:12:32 > 0:12:36I kind of like the way that it sort of puts pressure
0:12:36 > 0:12:37on that piece of street.
0:12:37 > 0:12:39I think it makes it really interesting.
0:12:39 > 0:12:41It's a kind of canyon feel about it,
0:12:41 > 0:12:43it's really like a squeeze coming down
0:12:43 > 0:12:45and I think it's quite exciting.
0:12:45 > 0:12:47It's a bit like that sort of Wall Street,
0:12:47 > 0:12:50City of London financial services district.
0:12:50 > 0:12:52Yeah, I mean, they're squaring up to each other a bit...
0:12:52 > 0:12:55- Yeah, full on.- You know, the two buildings are sort of...
0:12:55 > 0:12:58You know, I wouldn't say growling at each other,
0:12:58 > 0:13:00but they're certainly not trying to get off with each other.
0:13:00 > 0:13:02SHE CHUCKLES
0:13:02 > 0:13:04- And I think that's good. - I think that's good, though,
0:13:04 > 0:13:07- I think it would have been very wrong if they did.- Yeah.
0:13:07 > 0:13:09It's not that kind of a building.
0:13:29 > 0:13:32What do you think of the Mackintosh Building?
0:13:32 > 0:13:34I still think the Mack is amazing.
0:13:34 > 0:13:38I mean, it does have a sort of magic about it.
0:13:38 > 0:13:41It's really unlike any other kind of space
0:13:41 > 0:13:44and, although it's a big building, it's got a lot of different things
0:13:44 > 0:13:46going on in it, you know, that I think
0:13:46 > 0:13:49are really dynamic and stimulating still.
0:13:49 > 0:13:53There is something about it that is more than the sum of the parts.
0:13:53 > 0:13:55It's something slightly ineffable.
0:14:01 > 0:14:04I think that the Mackintosh building works well,
0:14:04 > 0:14:07because there's a lot in it, there's a lot to rub up against,
0:14:07 > 0:14:10lots of different materials, it's got a kind of patina of age.
0:14:10 > 0:14:13So it's not like a new car where you're terrified of scratching it
0:14:13 > 0:14:15cos you're the first person to occupy it
0:14:15 > 0:14:18and there's a burden of responsibility to use it well.
0:14:18 > 0:14:21We used to just use it un... completely unselfconsciously.
0:14:21 > 0:14:24I think the people who do work here, they don't think,
0:14:24 > 0:14:26"Oh, my God, it's a great building, I mustn't touch it."
0:14:26 > 0:14:28But it's got lots of little nooks and crannies,
0:14:28 > 0:14:33different kinds of space, light space, elevated space,
0:14:33 > 0:14:34space that's subterranean.
0:14:34 > 0:14:37So, depending on what kind of person you are or how you're feeling
0:14:37 > 0:14:39or the kind of the thing you're trying to do,
0:14:39 > 0:14:42there's nearly always a space you can go to.
0:14:42 > 0:14:43You've got choice.
0:14:43 > 0:14:46And it's got big social spaces, it's got quiet spaces...
0:14:46 > 0:14:48I just think there's an awful lot in it.
0:14:48 > 0:14:51It's a really complicated building for something that was
0:14:51 > 0:14:56so inexpensive and built of actually quite humble materials.
0:14:56 > 0:14:59There's nothing expensive about the materials that were used in it.
0:14:59 > 0:15:02But a lot of effort put in it as well, bits of decoration,
0:15:02 > 0:15:05the metalwork - simple things are done well. It's really structured.
0:15:05 > 0:15:07Maybe he just understood what was important
0:15:07 > 0:15:10and what was important in creativity then, you know, at the turn
0:15:10 > 0:15:13of the last century is still what's important.
0:15:13 > 0:15:15I think absolutely.
0:15:28 > 0:15:33ELECTRONIC MUSIC PLAYS
0:16:02 > 0:16:05"What should an Art School building provide for its students?"
0:16:05 > 0:16:06And it says "discuss".
0:16:06 > 0:16:07- SHE LAUGHS - Oh, yeah?
0:16:07 > 0:16:11I haven't been asked to discuss anything for years! "Discuss".
0:16:11 > 0:16:13Well, what do you think?
0:16:14 > 0:16:16What should it provide for students?
0:16:16 > 0:16:20I think it should provide a space that's...
0:16:20 > 0:16:23inspiring but neutral at the same time, if that's possible.
0:16:23 > 0:16:26And that's what Mackintosh definitely did with the main building,
0:16:26 > 0:16:28cos it's both brilliantly inspiring,
0:16:28 > 0:16:33but it doesn't impose its own aesthetic on you.
0:16:33 > 0:16:37And it's a place for meeting other people, so you didn't really
0:16:37 > 0:16:40learn as much from the tutors as you did from your fellow students.
0:16:40 > 0:16:42Oh, absolutely. That's always the case at an art school.
0:16:42 > 0:16:44And it was brilliant - so you'd go into a studio
0:16:44 > 0:16:46and there's 30 students there or 15 or whatever it is
0:16:46 > 0:16:49and somebody's playing the guitar and somebody's writing songs,
0:16:49 > 0:16:52somebody's in a rock band, somebody's a playwright or whatever,
0:16:52 > 0:16:54writing poems, and you think, "Wow."
0:17:55 > 0:17:58'So it's great to be out of the BBC Scotland studio
0:17:58 > 0:18:02'to meet Professor Shona Reid, director of the School of Art.
0:18:02 > 0:18:04'The new design school, then,
0:18:04 > 0:18:07'presumably there were different avenues you could go down,
0:18:07 > 0:18:09'maybe along the competition line.
0:18:09 > 0:18:12'Slightly. I mean, we didn't actually ask...
0:18:13 > 0:18:16'Many competitions will ask the entrants
0:18:16 > 0:18:18'to actually design the building.
0:18:18 > 0:18:22'We didn't ask the entrants to design the building.
0:18:22 > 0:18:24'We didn't want a final design,
0:18:24 > 0:18:29'because as an art and design and architecture environment.
0:18:29 > 0:18:32'We wanted to be able to work very closely with the architects
0:18:32 > 0:18:35'in refining the thinking around the building,
0:18:35 > 0:18:38'the way it would function, the way it would look.
0:18:38 > 0:18:42'The brief was almost poetic as well as being functional.
0:18:42 > 0:18:47'And I think that then helped Steven Holl to be...
0:18:47 > 0:18:52'er, concerned about the way spaces could inspire people.'
0:18:59 > 0:19:03His narrative when he spoke about
0:19:03 > 0:19:07the way in which his thinking developed about the building
0:19:07 > 0:19:12and the inspiration that he had got from Mackintosh
0:19:12 > 0:19:15was incredibly compelling.
0:19:15 > 0:19:18And, you know, both,
0:19:18 > 0:19:22both Mackintosh and Steven Holl are kind of architects of light.
0:19:45 > 0:19:47MAN GIVES LECTURE
0:19:50 > 0:19:55So Stephen Holl says in his book Questions of Perception,
0:19:55 > 0:19:59he says, "Architecture gives the immediacy of sensory experience
0:19:59 > 0:20:01"that no other art gives."
0:20:01 > 0:20:03Right, so what does he mean by that?
0:20:03 > 0:20:07"It gives the immediacy of sensory experience that no other art gives."
0:20:07 > 0:20:10So he talks about his awakening to architecture.
0:20:10 > 0:20:13He talks about going into the Pantheon in Rome,
0:20:13 > 0:20:15and he says, "I walked in the Pantheon,"
0:20:15 > 0:20:17and he says, "You suddenly see the Oculus,"
0:20:17 > 0:20:21this big hole in the ceiling, and you see the sun shining in,
0:20:21 > 0:20:24so you hear all the echoes in the ceiling,
0:20:24 > 0:20:28you see the sunlight come in, you feel the marble under your feet.
0:20:28 > 0:20:32All right? So there's all these different sensory experiences
0:20:32 > 0:20:35going on at the same time. Simultaneously.
0:20:35 > 0:20:37And this is how you experience a building,
0:20:37 > 0:20:40through all the sensory experiences.
0:20:40 > 0:20:43Unlike, say, for example, a painting or a piece of music,
0:20:43 > 0:20:47with architecture, when you walk into a building,
0:20:47 > 0:20:50you touch it with your feet, you touch it with your hands,
0:20:50 > 0:20:54you push the door open and so forth. You see it, you smell it, OK?
0:20:54 > 0:20:56So you have all the sensory experiences.
0:20:56 > 0:20:59So he says there's something more in architecture
0:20:59 > 0:21:00than you get in other arts.
0:21:00 > 0:21:04And so that's why he was so awakened to architecture
0:21:04 > 0:21:06when he walked into the Pantheon.
0:21:25 > 0:21:27I always love how when you come in,
0:21:27 > 0:21:29you're drawn to the light already.
0:21:32 > 0:21:35The natural light is already part of the experience,
0:21:35 > 0:21:39because there's a certain condition of the light dropping
0:21:39 > 0:21:42in this large stairwell that just brings you up.
0:21:42 > 0:21:44ECHOING: Brings you up, brings you up.
0:21:44 > 0:21:47And that was the beginning point for us,
0:21:47 > 0:21:51was to analyse all the natural light in the Mackintosh Building
0:21:51 > 0:21:55and then convert that into another geometry.
0:21:55 > 0:21:58ECHOING: Geometry, geometry, geometry...
0:22:10 > 0:22:14When we were analysing this building,
0:22:14 > 0:22:17one of the things that we discovered, or felt,
0:22:17 > 0:22:24was the power of these vertical...voids of light,
0:22:24 > 0:22:27and we transformed that into the driven voids of light.
0:22:27 > 0:22:30So this is the basically...
0:22:30 > 0:22:35Basically, this is the moment of, let's say...
0:22:35 > 0:22:38imagination that gets transformed
0:22:38 > 0:22:42into the driven voids which began the process of our concept.
0:22:44 > 0:22:47And we transformed that into the structure,
0:22:47 > 0:22:51the bringing-in of the light, the inhaling and exhaling of the air,
0:22:51 > 0:22:54and marking time. So they're doing four things.
0:23:57 > 0:24:02Let me go back to the beginning of my relation to Mackintosh,
0:24:02 > 0:24:06which starts in... Seattle, Washington,
0:24:06 > 0:24:08the University of Washington,
0:24:08 > 0:24:10and thank God I had a couple of great professors,
0:24:10 > 0:24:12one of which was Hermann Pundt.
0:24:12 > 0:24:20In 1967 or '68 he gave a lecture on the Glasgow School of Art
0:24:20 > 0:24:23and Mackintosh, and so, from that time on,
0:24:23 > 0:24:26from 1968 on, that building was always in my mind
0:24:26 > 0:24:29as something enormously important,
0:24:29 > 0:24:33probably...maybe one of the most important buildings in the whole UK.
0:25:32 > 0:25:37I started working on these tablets, 5x7, in 1979.
0:25:37 > 0:25:43So...you can see all the way back to 1979, so all the way...
0:25:43 > 0:25:45I can find the first watercolour
0:25:45 > 0:25:49of every single project we ever worked on.
0:25:49 > 0:25:54So if you ask me what project, I can find the first watercolours.
0:25:55 > 0:25:57This is like another part of the brain, right?
0:25:59 > 0:26:01AUDIO FROM "The Organized Mind" by Jim Henson
0:26:01 > 0:26:04'You know, I've, um...
0:26:04 > 0:26:09'I've learned to walk around inside my own head.
0:26:10 > 0:26:13'Now, that might sound silly to you,
0:26:13 > 0:26:17'but it's been very, very helpful to me.
0:26:17 > 0:26:20'Let me show you how it's done,
0:26:20 > 0:26:22'in case you want to try it.'
0:26:29 > 0:26:34HOLL: It's chicken or the egg, which comes first.
0:26:34 > 0:26:37It's not decipherable. It's simultaneous.
0:26:37 > 0:26:41And I make these drawings every morning
0:26:41 > 0:26:43on every project that I'm working on.
0:26:52 > 0:26:55Actually, this is my notebook
0:26:55 > 0:27:01from 2009, arriving in Glasgow on June 16th.
0:27:01 > 0:27:03You see the basic plan of volumes,
0:27:03 > 0:27:0615-metre cubics,
0:27:06 > 0:27:10stacked up in a way that gets north light,
0:27:10 > 0:27:16and then you see...the path that's going to connect everything.
0:27:16 > 0:27:18That's very important.
0:27:18 > 0:27:20How the students move through the spaces,
0:27:20 > 0:27:22they call it "creative abrasion".
0:27:22 > 0:27:25And then right there you see "driven voids of light".
0:27:25 > 0:27:28This is a key. These are the structure.
0:27:28 > 0:27:29There will be no other columns.
0:27:29 > 0:27:34There will be these big sort of concrete cylindrical voids
0:27:34 > 0:27:36that the path actually cuts through. And then....
0:27:38 > 0:27:42..making a model of that. You can see where the path is cutting through,
0:27:42 > 0:27:45where this cylinder is coming down,
0:27:45 > 0:27:47the green glass of the outside,
0:27:47 > 0:27:52the stack of volumes, almost 15x15 cubics.
0:27:52 > 0:27:53It's all there.
0:27:57 > 0:28:01The building is a tool. A tool for...
0:28:01 > 0:28:05creative work in the arts.
0:28:05 > 0:28:07That's natural, you know?
0:28:07 > 0:28:09That's the nature.
0:28:09 > 0:28:12I mean, we've done a number of art schools, so we call it, like...
0:28:12 > 0:28:15the building as a kind of instrument.
0:28:15 > 0:28:19It's not some kind of set-piece, it's an instrument to be utilised.
0:28:22 > 0:28:26Students need great space and great proportions and great light.
0:28:26 > 0:28:30And they need the building to be tough so they can abuse it.
0:28:30 > 0:28:34Because some art students need to throw their paint on the wall.
0:28:34 > 0:28:37You know? And need to jackhammer the floor,
0:28:37 > 0:28:40and they need to... That's what they need to do, you know?
0:28:40 > 0:28:43They need to do a karate chop to the whatever, you know?
0:28:43 > 0:28:45And that's what the building is.
0:28:52 > 0:28:56LORRY BEEPS
0:30:13 > 0:30:17Remarkably, although it's going to sound like a very large figure,
0:30:17 > 0:30:21for what we're getting it's actually quite modest.
0:30:21 > 0:30:25You know, we're building something of incredibly original design,
0:30:25 > 0:30:31very innovative approaches for not that much per square metre.
0:30:41 > 0:30:45So it's £49 million - now, that's not just that building
0:30:45 > 0:30:48it's the whole budget, and that whole budget includes
0:30:48 > 0:30:51all the kind of resources you have to set up,
0:30:51 > 0:30:54it also includes all the cost of having to recreate an art school,
0:30:54 > 0:30:56a design school in Sky Park
0:30:56 > 0:31:01to decant what are, you know, hundreds of students and staff.
0:31:09 > 0:31:12LOW CONVERSATION
0:31:14 > 0:31:17What happens to people at art school?
0:31:17 > 0:31:19I think this is really interesting because I think what happens
0:31:19 > 0:31:22to people at art school is they get motivated.
0:31:22 > 0:31:25They find things that make them get out of bed in the morning,
0:31:25 > 0:31:29and want to change the world. It gives people a mission in life.
0:31:29 > 0:31:32Quite often they hold on to that mission for their entire life,
0:31:32 > 0:31:35I think that's the really interesting thing for me.
0:31:41 > 0:31:43STUDENTS CHAT
0:31:44 > 0:31:48Also people, I think, learn how to collaborate
0:31:48 > 0:31:51and learn how to learn from each other.
0:31:51 > 0:31:54And that's maybe the most important difference between...
0:31:54 > 0:31:56The studio system I think is perfect for that,
0:31:56 > 0:31:59cos that's what it supports, is people learning from each other,
0:31:59 > 0:32:02working together as a team, collaborating.
0:32:02 > 0:32:05I think the fact that the designers of the building
0:32:05 > 0:32:07have made the effort, you know, have really made the effort
0:32:07 > 0:32:10to do something difficult and challenging,
0:32:10 > 0:32:13is actually really important to you as a student.
0:32:13 > 0:32:16You could just build a shed, you know, you could just a build
0:32:16 > 0:32:19- a, you know, a simple big... - Physical objects take on energy.
0:32:19 > 0:32:22If you've spent a lot of time trying really hard
0:32:22 > 0:32:25to make something really good, it's usually evident
0:32:25 > 0:32:27in the quality of what you produce
0:32:27 > 0:32:29and I think it's the quality that someone has,
0:32:29 > 0:32:31the time and effort and energy
0:32:31 > 0:32:34that someone's invested in creating an environment, that gives students
0:32:34 > 0:32:38the confidence to believe they have status, that they're worth it.
0:32:49 > 0:32:51HOLL: In a way, it's more exciting...
0:32:51 > 0:32:55The more difficult and more challenging the project,
0:32:55 > 0:32:57maybe the more exciting it is.
0:32:57 > 0:32:59Who wants to do something simple, you know?
0:32:59 > 0:33:01It's like mountain climbing.
0:33:01 > 0:33:05You want to do, you know, Mount Everest.
0:33:31 > 0:33:34Well, in the studio, we challenge ourselves
0:33:34 > 0:33:38to make an architecture that is a completely unique experience,
0:33:38 > 0:33:40that transcends the day-to-day.
0:33:40 > 0:33:44And that comes from Steven at the start,
0:33:44 > 0:33:47but also throughout the whole studio.
0:33:47 > 0:33:50So there's always a kind of experimental spirit in the studio,
0:33:50 > 0:33:53of "What kind of new experience can we make
0:33:53 > 0:33:54"that will inspire people?"
0:34:03 > 0:34:06We sought early on to connect
0:34:06 > 0:34:08with the Mackintosh building,
0:34:08 > 0:34:10make a deep relationship.
0:34:10 > 0:34:14Not through copying the materials or the details,
0:34:14 > 0:34:17but a deep relationship through a language of light.
0:34:17 > 0:34:19A new language of light
0:34:19 > 0:34:22that connects to the language of light in his building.
0:34:22 > 0:34:26The other way, of course, we were connecting with Mackintosh,
0:34:26 > 0:34:31and thinking about making space for 21st-century practice of art,
0:34:31 > 0:34:33is through great studio volumes.
0:34:33 > 0:34:36And you see here the variations of studio volumes,
0:34:36 > 0:34:38through the section of the building,
0:34:38 > 0:34:40and you see it especially in this section,
0:34:40 > 0:34:42where this is the refectory space,
0:34:42 > 0:34:44which is a double-height space,
0:34:44 > 0:34:45and then here you see
0:34:45 > 0:34:47these stepping volumes.
0:34:47 > 0:34:50When you make a variation in types of space, in light of space,
0:34:50 > 0:34:55that stimulates your senses. That heightens your awareness
0:34:55 > 0:34:58so that whenever you turn a corner, there's a different experience -
0:34:58 > 0:35:01a different kind of light and, as you move up through the building,
0:35:01 > 0:35:05there's a kind of landscape of heights and changes and shifts
0:35:05 > 0:35:09that is almost like a new horizon at every floor level, going up.
0:35:09 > 0:35:13So while we're working on the studios inside,
0:35:13 > 0:35:17we're also testing the materiality outside,
0:35:17 > 0:35:20and what the quality and the massing should be.
0:35:20 > 0:35:22And we wanted a very silent facade,
0:35:22 > 0:35:25and there's three different kinds of glass conditions - clear glass,
0:35:25 > 0:35:30translucent glass, clear glass behind our matte facade glass,
0:35:30 > 0:35:32and then, of course, the matte glass over the walls.
0:35:32 > 0:35:35And we tried many different types of glass
0:35:35 > 0:35:38and arrived at this very special glass that hasn't been made before,
0:35:38 > 0:35:42that we developed, where the exterior is etched,
0:35:42 > 0:35:47it's an acid etch, so it's soft, does not reflect the light.
0:35:47 > 0:35:51And that gives a very slight sheen to the atmosphere.
0:35:51 > 0:35:54And then it's all held with these bolts that are embedded,
0:35:54 > 0:35:58these ghost fittings, so that during the day,
0:35:58 > 0:36:02you don't see any of the fixings, you just see the surface,
0:36:02 > 0:36:06you see a slight reflection of the sky, and that kind of soft quality.
0:36:06 > 0:36:08ENGINE DROWNS SPEECH
0:36:18 > 0:36:21The key choice of the glass being non-reflective,
0:36:21 > 0:36:27in the main, was really a very important design characteristic.
0:36:27 > 0:36:29The north face of the Mackintosh,
0:36:29 > 0:36:34the fabulous studios of the north face, um...
0:36:34 > 0:36:38owe all their success to the fact of the evenness and the scale of light
0:36:38 > 0:36:41that you get into those spaces, into that volume.
0:36:41 > 0:36:43On the north, that light is always flat and even,
0:36:43 > 0:36:45and non-sunlight-directional.
0:36:45 > 0:36:49So it's for that reason that painters historically
0:36:49 > 0:36:51like the evenness of the north light,
0:36:51 > 0:36:53because it allows them to understand
0:36:53 > 0:36:55the tone of the colours that they're painting with,
0:36:55 > 0:36:58or drawing with, accurately all the time.
0:36:58 > 0:37:01In other words, it's not affected by different light conditions.
0:37:01 > 0:37:05To have something across the road that would reflect any glare
0:37:05 > 0:37:07or create any glare into those studios
0:37:07 > 0:37:09would have been an absolute disaster.
0:37:16 > 0:37:17Technically, our role is that
0:37:17 > 0:37:20we're a support architect to Steven Holl Architects.
0:37:20 > 0:37:24But the fact of the matter is it's been a collaboration from day one.
0:37:24 > 0:37:27Steven's clearly the design architect, but he's involved us
0:37:27 > 0:37:30in all his decision-making, every stage of the process.
0:37:30 > 0:37:33So we're effectively an extension of his studio.
0:37:33 > 0:37:38THEY SPEAK OWN LANGUAGE
0:37:43 > 0:37:44Perfect.
0:39:04 > 0:39:09It's exactly what I was expecting.
0:39:09 > 0:39:14The proportion, just the slight bit higher at the cornice line.
0:39:15 > 0:39:18Plenty of light on that.
0:39:18 > 0:39:19Plenty of soft light.
0:39:23 > 0:39:27When you live with a building for four years in your brain,
0:39:27 > 0:39:29it's exactly what I thought it was.
0:39:29 > 0:39:32I mean, it's not like I'm going to be surprised.
0:39:40 > 0:39:43This needs to have the glass on it.
0:39:44 > 0:39:46That's when you're really going to see this,
0:39:46 > 0:39:49when they get this layer of glass on this facade.
0:39:49 > 0:39:51Because you can't read this right now
0:39:51 > 0:39:55because of the clips and all the rigging.
0:39:55 > 0:39:58It's like the chicken just born with the feathers still wet.
0:39:58 > 0:40:02You know, it's not quite... You need that skin!
0:40:02 > 0:40:06It's still...yeah. It's a little bit of a gangly teenager still.
0:40:08 > 0:40:09Congratulations!
0:40:11 > 0:40:15- You're pulling it off!- Thank you. Good to see you.
0:40:15 > 0:40:16It's a lot of work, right?
0:40:51 > 0:40:52Very nice.
0:40:55 > 0:40:56HE LAUGHS
0:40:58 > 0:41:01This is great. These are the bones, right?
0:41:01 > 0:41:04This whole condition is the kind of... That's the structure.
0:41:04 > 0:41:07that's the main... See, in a normal piece of architecture,
0:41:07 > 0:41:11you have columns. But you don't have columns in this building.
0:41:11 > 0:41:14You have driven voids. They're holding up the building.
0:41:14 > 0:41:17So that's like... I don't think this has ever been done before,
0:41:17 > 0:41:20where you have voids holding up the whole structure.
0:41:20 > 0:41:23Imagine you're just coming to a lecture in this building,
0:41:23 > 0:41:26and you only go... You don't go all through the whole building,
0:41:26 > 0:41:29you're just coming to a lecture, but you're already getting the excitement
0:41:29 > 0:41:32of the entire structure in this single move,
0:41:32 > 0:41:33down into the auditorium.
0:41:51 > 0:41:54You know what comes to my mind when I look up in those spaces
0:41:54 > 0:41:57and see these curving staircases and so on -
0:41:57 > 0:42:00the printmaking of Piranesi, an 18th-century printmaker.
0:42:00 > 0:42:04And in particular - this may seem absurd to make an analogy here,
0:42:04 > 0:42:09but with his imaginary prisons. Those extraordinary interior spaces
0:42:09 > 0:42:13that... There's one with a massive great cylindrical volume
0:42:13 > 0:42:16that crashes down from the floor above
0:42:16 > 0:42:20and then splays out at the bottom, with little apertures in it,
0:42:20 > 0:42:22just like the driven voids.
0:42:22 > 0:42:25You've got spiral staircases that wind themselves around,
0:42:25 > 0:42:28you've got suspended walkways that disappear into nowhere,
0:42:28 > 0:42:30and you think, "My God, what's going on here?"
0:42:34 > 0:42:38Piranesi's medium, what he's actually working with,
0:42:38 > 0:42:41um, is not bricks and mortar and so on, all these are imaginary.
0:42:41 > 0:42:44- But his real medium is darkness. - Yes.
0:42:44 > 0:42:47- He excavates space out of shadow. - Yeah.
0:42:47 > 0:42:50That's kind of right, that's appropriate,
0:42:50 > 0:42:53in the context of a prison. Because a prison is a place
0:42:53 > 0:42:58of enforced confinement, where you suppress human aspiration.
0:42:58 > 0:43:00What I think we get with the Steven Holl building
0:43:00 > 0:43:03is almost like the positive that's been taken from that negative.
0:43:03 > 0:43:06All those qualities there are now flooded with light,
0:43:06 > 0:43:07and they're kind of...
0:43:07 > 0:43:10It's almost as if they're radiating light from the inside,
0:43:10 > 0:43:13which is absolutely appropriate for an educational building,
0:43:13 > 0:43:15which is all about enlightenment,
0:43:15 > 0:43:17and in particular visual education.
0:43:17 > 0:43:20So it becomes... The actual design, if I'm right
0:43:20 > 0:43:23in seeing it this way, becomes a metaphor
0:43:23 > 0:43:25for the entire educational process.
0:43:25 > 0:43:28- Because Piranesi loses us in the dark...- Yeah!
0:43:28 > 0:43:32- ..and Holl leads us into light. - Yeah, yeah.- Absolutely.
0:43:36 > 0:43:39It was worth all those little mock-ups before you did...
0:43:39 > 0:43:41- It's incredible.- Great building.
0:43:43 > 0:43:46It's going to be in the history books, this building.
0:43:46 > 0:43:47That's for sure.
0:44:16 > 0:44:18I've no idea what these are.
0:44:25 > 0:44:28Library.
0:44:28 > 0:44:29Archive.
0:44:38 > 0:44:43Er, irreverence, actually, I think is one of the things I've learned.
0:44:43 > 0:44:45SHE LAUGHS
0:44:45 > 0:44:47I use this...
0:44:48 > 0:44:53Lorna, my PA, texted me when I was on holiday
0:44:53 > 0:44:58to say, "I'm sitting in your office whilst a man dressed as a mouse
0:44:58 > 0:45:01"is sitting at your table,
0:45:01 > 0:45:07"shouting that all the other mice in GSA need to vote for him
0:45:07 > 0:45:11"because he's going to be the next big cheese."
0:45:11 > 0:45:13Actually, it's a serious artwork,
0:45:13 > 0:45:16but there's a wonderful kind of irreverence
0:45:16 > 0:45:19about some of what goes on at the art school
0:45:19 > 0:45:21which I absolutely love,
0:45:21 > 0:45:23and that...
0:45:23 > 0:45:27I love that, the freedom to think the impossible.
0:45:27 > 0:45:30Which just allows you to be very, very open,
0:45:30 > 0:45:34very wide about the possibilities you can pursue,
0:45:34 > 0:45:38the thoughts that you can think, the avenues that you can explore.
0:45:38 > 0:45:42And, yeah, so I think I've learned that kind of sense of...
0:45:42 > 0:45:45open, being open. I'm not sure I can...
0:45:45 > 0:45:48emulate it, but I certainly appreciate it.
0:45:58 > 0:46:00MUSIC: "The Blue Danube" by Strauss
0:47:22 > 0:47:24BUILDER SPEAKS OWN LANGUAGE
0:47:32 > 0:47:35MUSIC CONTINUES
0:48:22 > 0:48:25You know, what I really like about Europe
0:48:25 > 0:48:27is, you know...
0:48:27 > 0:48:30Like, in America, a fat cat gets to name the building
0:48:30 > 0:48:32just because he has a lot of money.
0:48:32 > 0:48:36This is kind of disgusting. It doesn't have anything to do with
0:48:36 > 0:48:39the spirit and the passion that went into building a building,
0:48:39 > 0:48:42it's just... You know, it's just somebody with a lot of money
0:48:42 > 0:48:44and then they get to name the building.
0:48:44 > 0:48:49So I like Europe because usually a building or something like that
0:48:49 > 0:48:51is named because of something deeper.
0:48:51 > 0:48:54She fought for it, she was the director,
0:48:54 > 0:48:57she believes in the total mission, the core mission,
0:48:57 > 0:49:01and I think this is great, that the building is named for Shona.
0:49:08 > 0:49:11I'm thrilled. I'm very grateful to the people who thought of it.
0:49:11 > 0:49:15Grateful to the people who have thought
0:49:15 > 0:49:17that it was an appropriate gesture
0:49:17 > 0:49:20and recognition of my 14 years here.
0:49:20 > 0:49:24And slightly...
0:49:24 > 0:49:28Slightly embarrassed, strangely, by it!
0:49:28 > 0:49:31But...you know. Such is life.
0:49:31 > 0:49:35These complexities and contradictions
0:49:35 > 0:49:37are part of what we live with.
0:50:04 > 0:50:08HOLL: You know, there's growth in the arts today that is enormous.
0:50:08 > 0:50:11All round the globe. Why is it?
0:50:11 > 0:50:14Maybe people are starting to realise that art is important.
0:50:14 > 0:50:18It isn't just some, you know, side activity,
0:50:18 > 0:50:22it's spiritual activity at the core meaning of human existence.
0:50:22 > 0:50:25So a school of art is an important thing, you know?
0:50:25 > 0:50:28It's an important place for education
0:50:28 > 0:50:31and it's an important contribution to a city like Glasgow
0:50:31 > 0:50:33which has got a great history of this.
0:50:33 > 0:50:37On a way this is one of the most important kind of commissions
0:50:37 > 0:50:41a person like myself, who believes in the importance of art, can do.
0:50:41 > 0:50:45Because we're making architecture in the service of something
0:50:45 > 0:50:48which we believe is at the core importance of existence.
0:50:48 > 0:50:51And that's a great honour.
0:50:51 > 0:50:54And I think Mackintosh felt the same way.
0:51:16 > 0:51:19You finish art school, you think it's the end of something
0:51:19 > 0:51:22but, of course, it's absolutely just the beginning of something else.
0:51:22 > 0:51:25The beginning of being an artist,
0:51:25 > 0:51:28the beginning of getting up every day and deciding you want to do it,
0:51:28 > 0:51:31and this is your life and this is what you're here to do.
0:51:31 > 0:51:34When no-one's asking you to do it, no-one's paying you to do it,
0:51:34 > 0:51:36no-one really wants you to do it,
0:51:36 > 0:51:39but you just have to get up every day and say, "I'm an artist."
0:51:39 > 0:51:42- You know.- And although we kind of both talked about
0:51:42 > 0:51:44a sort of "Eureka!" moment for a couple of pieces of work,
0:51:44 > 0:51:47- it's actually incredibly rare that that happens.- Yeah.
0:51:47 > 0:51:51It's more about working through and working through
0:51:51 > 0:51:54and working through things. And that accumulation of experience
0:51:54 > 0:51:58and disasters and mistakes, that still happen, of course, you know.
0:51:58 > 0:51:59But you...
0:51:59 > 0:52:02You kind of get there eventually, you know?
0:52:02 > 0:52:05- I think that...- It's just a process of working and looking and thinking.
0:52:09 > 0:52:14But the thing that art schools do is that they channel creativity
0:52:14 > 0:52:18and they help people understand how to organise it.
0:52:18 > 0:52:20How to structure their creativity.
0:52:20 > 0:52:23I think it's important that there are more art schools,
0:52:23 > 0:52:26because it's already been proven through research, time and again,
0:52:26 > 0:52:29that design in particular has got a predisposition
0:52:29 > 0:52:31to produce entrepreneurs.
0:52:31 > 0:52:33Yeah.
0:52:33 > 0:52:36Helps you take risk, work in collaboration,
0:52:36 > 0:52:40it's got all the ingredients you need to produce embryonic businesses.
0:53:47 > 0:53:49Everything that we do in this building
0:53:49 > 0:53:52is in some relation to the original building.
0:53:52 > 0:53:53Every move we make.
0:53:55 > 0:53:59In a way, a complementary contrast to the original building.
0:54:01 > 0:54:03We took that through even in the details.
0:54:03 > 0:54:07For example, you can see throughout the Mackintosh building
0:54:07 > 0:54:11slight coloured glass. We took that coloured glass palette
0:54:11 > 0:54:16and we said, "His is sprinkled all over the building in a wonderful way.
0:54:16 > 0:54:19"In respect of that, we're not going to do that,
0:54:19 > 0:54:21"our building's going to be black and white,
0:54:21 > 0:54:24"but at the entranceway we will have a flourish of colour."
0:54:24 > 0:54:27But it wouldn't be his colours. They would be complementary colours.
0:54:27 > 0:54:30So we would take the opposites, you know,
0:54:30 > 0:54:34and in a way always be in dialogue with Mackintosh.
0:54:42 > 0:54:44The whole building is an homage.
0:54:44 > 0:54:48It's to provide great studio spaces for the students,
0:54:48 > 0:54:52for sure, but it's an homage to Mackintosh.
0:55:11 > 0:55:15INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC: "Good Vibrations" by the Beach Boys
0:56:30 > 0:56:34It already has, I think. I can see by the fact that
0:56:34 > 0:56:38they moved in and they kind of flooded Instagram with pictures.
0:56:38 > 0:56:41They're already taking pictures cos there's some very inspiring spaces.
0:56:41 > 0:56:43And then they made this colour wheel
0:56:43 > 0:56:46at the bottom of one of the driven voids.
0:56:46 > 0:56:48They're just doing things already!
0:56:48 > 0:56:50They've only been in there a couple of weeks
0:56:50 > 0:56:53and they're already inspired by the building,
0:56:53 > 0:56:57and I think, yeah, it's going to go on for 100 years.
0:56:57 > 0:56:59That building's going to be there for a long time.
0:56:59 > 0:57:03And I'm very happy about the solidity of it
0:57:03 > 0:57:05and the flexibility of it,
0:57:05 > 0:57:08and I think that's what an art school's about.