- The outcomes of a Studio project impressed the Trustees of the World Heritage Site
- The proposals will also be shown in a major exhibition at New Lanark later in the year
Propositions for New Lanark by Stage 2 students at the Mackintosh School of Architecture
which will be exhibited at 2019 Degree Show
which will be exhibited at 2019 Degree Show
“A project like this, which takes the historic ethos of the site, and applies it to 21st century issues, is food for thought for the future of the village.”
Jane Masters, Heritage Manager of New Lanark Trust
Proposals for new forms of living and working in the New Lanark World Heritage site by Stage 2 architecture students at The Glasgow School of Art will be exhibited at the GSA’s annual Degree Show next month it has been confirmed.
Selected work from a Studio project was presented to the Trustees of the World Heritage Stite earlier in the year and impressed them greatly. The propositions will now form part of the annual showcase of student work at the GSA. They will be on show in the Bourdon Building in Garnethill from 1 – 9 June 2019 alongside work by students on stages 3, 4 and 5 of the Architecture programme.
The students were asked to reflect on Robert Owen’s legacy within contemporary social and economic conditions, and to speculate about new forms of living and working in the New Lanark World Heritage Site. Their innovative responses ranged widely in terms of activities proposed and architectural resolution both in relation to the built and natural context and resident lifestyles.
In one proposition living and working spaces are merged to offer accommodation for art and craft activities. Another suggested supporting gardening as a convivial activity for an inclusive intergenerational community in projects located on the path to the falls of Clyde. Bringing together orphan refugees and their carers in a vertical garden village was a further proposition.
Projects also explored the potential of bringing together specialist manufacturing activities into new forms of live/work and leisure pursuits to enjoy New Lanark and the Clyde scenic landscape, or to harness local clay natural resources for the craft production of bricks.
In another proposal the light timber frame, incremental process of construction of domestic structures was conceived as a long-term strategy to sustain mental health and well-being of residents with a minimum of environmental impact to the setting.
Jane Masters, a graduate of the Mackintosh School of Architecture at The Glasgow School of Art is now Heritage Manager of New Lanark Trust. She supported the Studio from the outset and attended the final reviews.
“New Lanark Trust was delighted to work in partnership with the Stage 2 students on their ‘live / work’ project,”says Jane. “As the Trust enters the delivery phase of its new World Heritage Site Management Plan, 2019-2023, it is wonderful for us to see the potential, both real and speculative, which others see in the site.”
“The Trust has always aimed to run New Lanark as a living and working village, and not merely as a museum dedicated to the past so a project like this, which takes the historic ethos of the site, and applies it to 21st century issues, is food for thought for the future of the village.”
“The New Lanark Studio was an excellent project to stretch our Stage 2 students,”adds Sally Stewart Head of the Mackintosh School of Architecture. “The students were encouraged to develop innovative propositions, but had to make sure this was within both the both philosophical and historic context: New Lanark was used by Robert Owen as a ground-breaking experiment in social, moral, educational and workplace reform and today it is one of Scotland’s six UNESCO World Heritage sites.”
Some of the work from the New Lanark Studio will also be on show as part of a major exhibition at the World Heritage Site in the autumn.
For further information on Degree Show at the GSA visit including opening times visit:
Ends
For further information contact:
Lesley Booth,
07799414474
press@gsa.ac.uk
07799414474
press@gsa.ac.uk