- New Lanark excited at the prospect of working with the GSA again
- GSA delighted that partnership that helps students develop their practice will continue
Images: Propositions for the World Heritage Site by the first cohort of MSA students on show at the New Lanark in 2019
Architecture students from The Glasgow School of Art have been invited to continue their work with New Lanark it was announced today, 11 December 2019
The outcomes of an initial project with Stage 2 Architecture students last year that looked at new forms of living and working within the historic New Lanark village impressed the Trustees of the World Heritage site who are currently looking at the future of this important part of Scotland’s social and architectural history.
The initial responses were described by Trustees as “wonderful” in showing them the potential of the site. They included a proposition in which living and working spaces are merged to offer accommodation for art and craft activities. Another proposition suggested supporting gardening as a convivial activity for an inclusive inter-generational community on the path to the falls of Clyde. Another suggested bringing together orphan refugees and their carers in a vertical garden village.
The World Heritage site has now confirmed that it will continue its partnership with the Mackintosh School of Architecture at The Glasgow School of Art. Next semester a new cohort of Stage 2 students will undertake a studio project aligned with New Lanark’s work in its new World Heritage Site Management Plan.
“The responses from the Stage 2 students to a brief in a living and working site were outstanding,” says Jane Masters, Head of Heritage & Development at New Lanark Trust. “As a ‘client’, we are excited at the prospect of working with the school again, and developing projects which may, in future, come to fruition on the site.”
The first set of proposals were shown at the New Lanark site with the public offered the opportunity to comment on them in the most recent exhibitions.
“Public feedback on the student’s work was very positive, with many commenting that they found the ideas inspiring.”says Helen Martin, Collections and Exhibitions Officer at New Lanark. “Through the student projects, visitors were able to see New Lanark as a living and evolving place, and not an historical monument.”
“We are delighted that our partnership with New Lanark will continue,” says Sally Stewart, Head of the Mackintosh School of Architecture.“The initial New Lanark Studio was an excellent example of how our Stage 2 students can extend and deepen their design skills by working with contemporary situations and in collaboration with real clients.”
“The feedback of clients is extremely important for students as they develop their practice, and the positive response from New Lanark underscores the depth of understanding the students had gained about the importance of this UNESCO World Heritage site. We are sure that our current cohort of Stage 2 students will propose equally fascinating ideas of for New Lanark.”
“New Lanark offers a thought-provoking context to develop responses to the current climate and ecological crisis,”say Stage 2 studio leaders Luca Brunelli and Neil Mochrie. “Inspired by Owen’s social utopian project next semester students will once again be asked to imagine more sustainable lifestyles offering places to live and work that can stabilise the population in a renewed rural economy, reducing transport needs, lowering energy consumption and sharing resources.”
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