Paris welcomed world leaders last weekend to celebrate the magnificent rebuild of Notre Dame, completed on a time scale many thought impossible. I was in Glasgow on Sunday visiting my uncle, and, sparked by indignation at its very different fate, we took a taxi to look at the burnt-out School of Art. What a contrast. It is a plastic-wrapped wreck, while the streets around it … [Read more...] about A failure of leadership over Glasgow’s “Mack”
architecture
Is modernism obsolete?
Architectural modernism needs spin. A prime example of truth laundering by its media propagandists was a 2004 Entebbe-type raid by London architectural journalists on Scotland’s parliament building. Nicely wined and dined, they had a job to do, and boy, did they deliver! Most Scottish journalists were excluded from this opinion formers’ junket. Holyrood’s budget, variously … [Read more...] about Is modernism obsolete?
Modernist mythologies 2
What, exactly, is modern architecture? The first thing to be understood is that the name itself is a lie. It isn’t remotely modern. According to an interesting American academic paper, the Mental Disorders which gave us Modern Architecture (Sussman/Chen), Modernism arose out of the trauma of the First World War. It presented as a strain of such neuropsychiatric conditions as … [Read more...] about Modernist mythologies 2
Mythologising modernism
Thanks to the comforting anaesthetic of its own douce gentility Edinburgh may not look like a city in crisis. But, as the infamous Golden Turd arises in the east and the ruins of its cash crop economy – mass tourism – emerge through the miasma of the global pestilence, we should not only pay attention to some of our civic disasters, but also ask ourselves if there’s a better … [Read more...] about Mythologising modernism
Not just a pretty facade: Glasgow heritage has a beating heart
Up or down? What does the future hold for Glasgow’s Sauchiehall Street? Could this fire-haunted place become the centre of Glasgow City of Music? The question comes with just a hint of provocation from Glasgow School of Art's Professor Johnny Rodger as he sits in a bar with DJ Jim Gellatly.They are discussing music, architecture, urban planning and other … [Read more...] about Not just a pretty facade: Glasgow heritage has a beating heart