GSA Degree Show: Architecture

A trio of buildings on Renfrew St. make up the main body of the campus. What’s that? Yes there are three buildings on Renfrew St; as well the award winning and a wee bit cracked Reid Building, and the renowned and slightly charred Mackintosh building, there is the unfaltering and monumental work of modernism that is the Bourdon building. It is in this seemingly impenetrable work of sculpted concrete that the sleep deprived Architecture students have laboured over meticulous drawings and endless scale models.

Architecture is sometimes criticised as the most difficult of the visual arts to read, and in some cases the format at the degree show, where work is left on the wall in its unedited form, can become overwhelming. However in the maze of plans and sections some of the most exciting work to be found throughout the art school can be seen. This wash of drawings carries its own charm; it allows you to become totally immersed in the work. The labour that has gone into it is palpable, in what is in some cases a culmination of a six year journey.

This year the stage 5 degree show will contain some of the most progressive design to come from GSA. The students have spent the academic year designing their self-prescribed projects in cities throughout Europe, projects that blur the lines between traditional architecture and urban planning. It is no secret that as architects the students will be designing for an uncertain future, where technology and climate change are certain to cause unforeseeable changes to the way we live. It is relieving, then, to see the acknowledgment of this uncertain future in the students' designs. One example of this is a scheme located in Paris where the architecture that surrounds a canal network has the ability to withstand the impending 100 year flood scientists predict is coming. In one of the most breath-taking schemes an entire proposal is located in the sky, suggesting that we are within 100 years of technology rendering this possible.

Uniquely, Architecture is the only subject where work from all years is displayed at the degree show. Stage 3 and 4 also present their work on the wall as the maze of drawings continues into the 3rd floor studio. Stage 3, preparing to exit the studio into the real world for their year out, have been working on a textile studio located closer to home in the Southside of Glasgow. Here hand drawing and digital media are combined to great effect, and you don’t have to study architecture to appreciate the skill in blending the two techniques. Further along is the stage 4 work, again located in Glasgow. The students had a less prescriptive brief where they were asked to design an Athenaeum, essentially a public building concerned with knowledge.

If the sheer volume of the work begins to thump your cerebellum the curated exhibition of Stage 1 and 2 work on the ground floor can provide a welcome breath of fresh air. Showing you where it all begins – with an isograph pen. The priority of hand drawing is obvious and the skill displayed by those who may have just learnt to draw on a board a few months ago is impressive. After experiencing the hand drawings the 1st and 2nd years use to first explore the discipline this can perhaps go to some way to explain why despite the advancements in digital drawing technology, hand drawings will remain an integral part of the work at GSA.