Glasgow School of Art

[velonoir]

Have been watching my Facebook timeline fill up with news about the fire in the Rennie Mac building today. Feel quite sick thinking about all the degree show work that was lost on the day of submission, the beautiful library and all its irreplaceable old art work and books and the building which is such a treasure to the city. Sad times, at least no-one was hurt.

 

[MWHCVT]

Have been watching my Facebook timeline fill up with news about the fire in the Rennie Mac building today. Feel quite sick thinking about all the degree show work that was lost on the day of submission, the beautiful library and all its irreplaceable old art work and books and the building which is such a treasure to the city. Sad times, at least no-one was hurt.

That last bit is the most important bit...

The biggest question I always wonder with stuff like this is that in the day and age of various fire suppressant systems why are these not employed...I really feel for all those students that will have in many cases lost years of work

 

[Musicman]

It's a disaster on many levels

The biggest question I always wonder with stuff like this is that in the day and age of various fire suppressant systems why are these not employed...

It's a Grade I Listed building, which would make it difficult to install something like that without compromising the very thing you're trying to protect.

Any decent system would have to be designed in from the start.

 

[MWHCVT]

It's a disaster on many levels



It's a Grade I Listed building, which would make it difficult to install something like that without compromising the very thing you're trying to protect.

Any decent system would have to be designed in from the start.

Well isn't that just plain stupid, this is listed as a building that needs to be saved for future generations...but lets not install systems that might just save it...always though the listed buildings stuff was pathetic but this type if thing just confirms it for me

 

[velonoir]

I'm fairly sure there was a sprinkler system installed, at least in parts. I was looking at a photo of the hen run which joined the two wings and I'm fairly sure you can see sprinkler heads and smoke detectors. That said, I have also heard the sprinkler system may not have been active. Just keep thinking about all the amazing little architectural details inside, especially the library, don't know how they'll be able to restore it and retain the character it had gained from over a hundred years of patina.

 

[SFTPhotography]

Modern buildings are designed with fire proofing in mind from materials used in construction to ducts and channels to bloke smoke and heat transmittace.

It's very sad and a lot of work was recently done renovating it etc

 

[jakeblu]

Well isn't that just plain stupid, this is listed as a building that needs to be saved for future generations...but lets not install systems that might just save it...always though the listed buildings stuff was pathetic but this type if thing just confirms it for me

There's nothing stupid about the listed buildings and conservation area act. Without it our towns and cities would be full of concrete monoliths . We are lucky in this country that we have some amazing architecture and historical buildings that are worth preserving and our city centres are not totally left to the whim of whatever architectural style is currently fashionable.

 

[Steep]

The good news is the fire service boss said last night they had managed to save the building and probably 75% of the contents. Mind you I think part of the 25% that may be gone forever is the library and museum, irreplaceable.

 

[MWHCVT]

There's nothing stupid about the listed buildings and conservation area act. Without it our towns and cities would be full of concrete monoliths . We are lucky in this country that we have some amazing architecture and historical buildings that are worth preserving and our city centres are not totally left to the whim of whatever architectural style is currently fashionable.

See I'm all for preservation but at the same time you have to be pragmatic, is it better to make subtle changes to the fabric of a structure to hopefully protect it in the event of a disaster...or do nothing and then loose it forever when something like this happens...which is the better option, I know which I would choose, fairly sure I can guess which option all the students that have lost work would choose too

 

[SFTPhotography]

Fire started due to a projector explosion. Are they assessing the safety of their equipment properly. Prevention always being better than cure, which is what Matthew is saying. Fire doors, fireproof materials and safe wiring are a must in an office/school/business

 

[velonoir]

I have a suspicion that the projector that went pop would have been a part of someone's degree show exhibit brought in by a student, there are a lot of projectors, old tv's etc used in the degree show. It would be hard to get round that, even if you forced all electrical equipment to be PAT tested, that still won't guarantee against something like this.

 

[viv1969]

It's always a shame to see things of history destroyed, but tragedy isn't a word I'd apply.
At the end of the day, what's been lost is "things" historical or valuable yes, but just things.
A tragedy would be a loss of life, which thankfully wasn't the case.

 

[velonoir]

It's always a shame to see things of history destroyed, but tragedy isn't a word I'd apply.
At the end of the day, what's been lost is "things" historical or valuable yes, but just things.
A tragedy would be a loss of life, which thankfully wasn't the case.

I'd have to disagree, GSA and that building in particular are such an integral part of the city's culture and the development of countless creative individuals that many feel it is almost a part of their family. We can argue over words but a sense of tragedy is an emotional response and I think regarding it as such is perfectly appropriate. I never went to GSA but know many who did and watching it on fire made me feel physically sick, I can't imagine how it must have felt watching the culmination of four years work go up in smoke on the day of submission for all those students. Maybe it's irrational to see the loss of "things" in that way but I suppose that's emotions.

 

[viv1969]

I'd have to disagree, GSA and that building in particular are such an integral part of the city's culture and the development of countless creative individuals that many feel it is almost a part of their family. We can argue over words but a sense of tragedy is an emotional response and I think regarding it as such is perfectly appropriate. I never went to GSA but know many who did and watching it on fire made me feel physically sick, I can't imagine how it must have felt watching the culmination of four years work go up in smoke on the day of submission for all those students. Maybe it's irrational to see the loss of "things" in that way but I suppose that's emotions.

Agreeing to disagree works for me

 

[Steep]

PAT testing is all well and necessary but all a PAT test proves is that an item of equipment was safe when it was tested, an hour or a day or a month later and the test means nothing. There were/are safety features in the GSA, as I understand it much of the building was saved by a firewall but there's only so much you can do to protect something that's made of inflammable material. There will be lots of discussion now as to how to rebuild the parts that were lost, in particular the library. I'm with others in thinking that they should try to recapture the spirit but not replicate the original.