Building was a living being with a soul... I fear it can’t be saved
ICAN’T imagine how this has been allowed to happen again. This is possibly the most iconic building in Scotland in terms of world architecture – it is just unbelievable that fire has gutted it for the second time in four years.
No words can describe my sadness and shock at the news that it has suffered again, and questions need to be asked as to how this could happen a second time around within such a short period of time.
It’s an absolute disaster. It is shocking. It has taken all the fire services to get it under control and I don’t want to imagine what it will look like on the inside after this tragedy.
The Charles Rennie Mackintosh building was completed in the early part of the 20th century and has had such a profound effect and influence on architecture in Scotland and around the world.
There will never be another building like it.
I worked there when I was a student, in one of the studios high up in the building. It was a wonderful and welcoming place and a delight to work in it.
It was like no other place I had been in my life and I was there at an impressionable age, when I was 18. I can’t bear to think about it being lost to us. It is an absolute bloody disaster. As an artist and a student, the building was an inspiration to all of us who worked there.
You had a very high bar to try to get over because you were working in a world-renowned masterpiece and that egged you on to do your best. Lots of people did do their best. I know I did, encouraged by the genius of Mackintosh. It is his masterpiece. To work in a building like that was a real privilege.
As a student, the companionship and learning how to do life drawing was such an inspiration. We had models coming in and we would have monthly compositions to do and we would get a criticism from other staff members.
It was just heavenly. It really was – although it was hard work as well. You were dedicated. You weren’t looking to make money or anything else. It never came into anybody’s head that you could make money.
You weren’t thinking you could be rich and famous – unlike the 21st-century trend of people claiming to be artists who are just taking money from others. I was shocked to see that recently, while the students were still working there, they had boxed in the cubicles – in defiance of the design Mackintosh intended.
The students were meant to discuss things while they were working, but it had been turned into a prison with the students on day release. Nobody spoke to each other in the cubicles. I don’t know what the authorities are going to do now, whether they are going to do another renovation – whether that would even be possible.
They may never manage to raise funds again because it has gone on fire twice and I can’t see people dipping into their pockets to do another renovation or a complete rebuild of the interior.
I am heartbroken the art school has been destroyed, but personally I believe there will not be another renovation. God almighty, I cannot imagine people rushing to put money into it because it will happen again. It is cursed.
It is a great loss to Glasgow and Scotland but I cannot see it resurrecting. That will be the end of it.