Glasgow Herald Building, Scotland : Information

Date built: 1895 Design: Rennie Mackintosh Images: David Churchill / Phil Sayer image : David Churchill Refurbished as The Lighthouse, Scotland’s Centre for Architecture, Design and the City, 56 Mitchell St, Glasgow by Page & Park Architects in 1998-99 Address: Glasgow Herald, 87-94 / 60-76 Mitchell St Gordon Chambers / Glasgow Herald Building: Burnet, Boston & Carruthers 1903-06 John Baird 1867-70 Charles Rennie Mackintosh 1893-95 Page & Park Architects Building images : David Churchill Typical for a Scottish newspaper operation (eg former headquarters of The Scotsman, North Bridge, Edinburgh) the lower floors were used as production and the upper floors for the editorial and commercial offices. A building with great heritage: the former Glasgow Herald building was remodelled by Charles Rennie Mackintosh in 1893-95, his first major public building. Like so many Scottish contemporary buildings, the newspaper columns have focused on the problems - generally costs - rather than the architecture. Page & Park Architects have a fine pedigree and were a logical choice for such a project. The Lighthouse Mack Room photo The Lighthouse, although in central Glasgow, is in a difficult site, tucked away off the main drag. This means signage and marketing have to be well-organised, and the logo designed by Mariscal - who did the Barcelona Olympics logo (the dog holding a torch) - makes a strong impact. With a lack of easily-visible street frontage the Lighthouse image that immediately springs to my mind (even though I'm an architect) is the 'three-legged' logo of, well, a lighthouse. Nevertheless, the interior spaces are stacked vertically up a brightly-coloured atrium, calmed by areas of fair-faced concrete and linked by an elevator. The exhibitions are designed to be accessible and don't focus purely on architecture; there is an observation deck at the top from which to view the city. Glasgow Herald: photo by Steffen Schefer Interior graphics and displays were designed by Javier Mariscal and designers lwd. The £12m Glasgow Lighthouse opened in Summer 1999, with two main exhibition galleries, conference room, ground-floor cafe, smaller display areas, education and IT suites, Mackintosh interpretation area and a Design-into-Business Centre. The Lighthouse forms a permanent addition to Scotland's cultural heritage and a concrete reminder of Glasgow 1999: UK City of Architecture and Design. It's stated remit is to ensure that the widest possible audience will be able to use the building to explore architecture and design in all their many meanings, presented in engaging informative and challenging ways.