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Exterior Glasgow School of Art
Architect: Charles Rennie Mackintosh (1897 onwards)
Photograph: A. Hunt (1980)
Source: RIBA British Architectural Library Photographs Collection

Mackintosh’s School of Art is now one of the best-known buildings in Scotland. Built from 1897 onwards, this is no ordinary educational building. Its enduring appeal relies on the juxtaposition of elements – materials, forms, light and shadow – whilst playing with traditional Scottish models of tower-houses and even tenement blocks.

Asymmetry is the principal means used to enliven the façade. The position of the doors ground the towers, which jostle between themselves, the left tower rising higher. These, like much of the façade, are constituted of flat, thickly coursed sandstone. Decoration is limited. Only around the door, where the balcony, bay windows and deep rounded pediment emerge, is the wall’s might challenged.

These heavy elements contrast to the more delicate iron fixtures. The fenestration’s simple, repetitive glass grids allow light to stream into the building. The other iron work is remarkably original: reliant on a tension between plain geometric shapes and organic leaf and flower motifs, their shadows dance across the façade.