steven holl discusses reid building at glasgow school of art

steven holl discusses reid building at glasgow school of art
image courtesy of spirit of space

in collaboration with creative agency spirit of space, steven holl architects has created two short films which document the practice’s work at the glasgow school of art, which opened in april 2014. the series examines the relationship between holl’s extension and charles rennie mackintosh’s 1909 masterpiece. the first movie features steven holl and senior partner chris mcvoy discussing the design of the ‘reid building’, offering insights into the scheme’s development and defining characteristics. the second film takes viewers on a poetic walk through the school’s social circuit, which purposefully encourages inter-disciplinary activity.

‘mackintosh was someone who broke ground, make a language, turned his back on history and forged forward for a kind of new architecture that he invented. more than anything, I thought that I could show that I sincerely connected this, (the reid building), to mackintosh. even though this building is very abstract’, explained holl.

‘I studied all the ways that light comes into the mackintosh building, and discovered many different interesting things. one of them in particular is in the library where there are these three storey elements in glass – we call them ‘driven voids of light’. we transferred that into this idea of concrete driven voids, which would hold the building up, bring light in and circulate the air. they would do everything for the building.‘

see designboom‘s previous coverage of the ‘reid building‘ at the glasgow school of art here.

the project is envisioned as a complimentary contrast to charles rennie mackintosh’s iconic 1909 building
image © iwan baan

the juxtaposing materiality of the two structures
image © iwan baan

studios are positioned along the northern façade with large inclined areas of glazing
image © iwan baan

concrete voids hold the building up, bring in light and circulate air
image © chris mcvoy