THE GLASGOW SCHOOL OF ART EXTENSION: A CRITIQUE

The Glasgow school of art redevelopment designed by architect Steven Holl is built with light play as its driving concept. There exist huge tunnels and voids to extend natural light into the lower floors of the building. There is a narrative of light in the spaces of a temporal dimension. Although, in the winter, the light wells might just become grimly lit failures.
Even though the perceived campus is still rather small for the institution to function, the architect managed a solution which is functional, formidable and a designed environment that is conducive to learning. Holl’s description of his process and ideation is scarce. The scheme is advertised as a functionally thought out program and also that it generates contemplation, learning and creativity in the user.
The thin matte glass referencing of the mackintosh’s stone skin on the 1909 building is barely a valid response to the context. The reflection of the sky as a form of architectural “down-playing” is a failure since the reflection can also cause glare, the opposite of the “down play”.
The proposal promises great attention to detail and materiality.
Steven Holl said, "The site opposite the Mackintosh Building calls for a unique, inspiring and stimulating twenty-first century architecture with a great sensitivity to light, detail, and material. The new Glasgow School of Art Building will provide contemplative space for individual creativity and thought, and spaces of collective interaction for students, staff and the Garnethill community."
A formidable amount of media attention has made established critics, theorists and other loyalists of the historic mackintosh lash out against the Steven holl project. Some of them actually valid and most of them mis-informed, they are infuriated for many reasons and the cartoon like massing of the proposed structure is only their beginning to a long rant.
There is an opposition offered by the firms concerned. Their motive is to shoot down any accusation.
This dialectic however will remain redundant until the realisation of the project.