FERN HOCKLEY-TELLES
N0483444 - Interior Architecture + Design
SEONA REID BUILDING - GLASGOW SCHOOL OF ART
Steven Holl - Glasgow
In contrast to the materiality of the chapel is the Reid Building, part of the Glasgow School of Art, designed by phenomenologist Steven Holl. As an architect with an awareness of atmospheric experience, particularly through his use of materials, it seemed appropriate to visit one of his more recent works.
The building itself is based upon a ‘complimentary contrast’, built opposite the renowned Macintosh school of art, and this is no more evident than in the use of an ‘ethereal’, light, jade-like glass cladding the building’s façade, as well as within.
From prior secondary research, I had an awareness of the potential for a concealed construction and these ephemeral materials, to either enhance an atmosphere or dramatically impede it by reinforcing a ‘sense of unreality and alienation.’ (Pallasmaa, 2012, p.34) What I found surprising was that my experience, feelings and opinion of the building changed as I moved around it, despite the materiality staying the same.
The solid concrete structure from the Ground floor did feel lightened somewhat by the white brightness of a painted plaster finish, however, it did not radiate the level of illumination and spatial clarity that I was expecting. Looking upwards it was evident that there was a sort of exposed structure; the steps of the staircases, ‘float’ overhead, though are not as gentle as the space initially seems, as their visible fixings appealed to the technical, less emotional part of my brain. It was these structural details both within the plaster and glass, ‘both seamless and curiously irregular’ (Murphy, 2014) that I found a detraction from the atmosphere: It highlighted the practicality and formality of the building, as did the marks of use on the plaster walls, and fought against my own pre-formed perception of the space as a dream-like environment. Where these particulars were not within my focus though, I found that the shadowy movement of people behind the frosted glass and between voids was somewhat calm and tranquil, which perhaps validates the importance of architecture creating a setting for peripheral, rather than focused, vision.
I found that Libeskind’s choice of opaque glass challenges Pallasmaa’s ideology that: ‘The contradictory opaque transparency of these buildings reflects the gaze back unaffected and unmoved; we are unable to see or imagine life behind these walls.’ (Pallasmaa, 2012, p.34) Much like the afore-mentioned affirmation of jade by Tanizaki, Holl’s misty panels hold an emotive depth.
It was in one of the three void ‘towers’, sitting and looking upwards towards the sky, that I did experience an instant emotional impact, and realised the power of a very plain white plaster finish. There was a silence within the space, as though pushed upon me from the weight and gravity of the thick concrete wall, and this was enhanced by the light both reflecting off, and pouring down the sides of the white surface; abstract, coloured shapes of light around the curved walls were almost reminiscent of a melodic work of art or a stained glass window and ‘By catching changing light "they go back to universal time, the time of the seasons". (Moore, 2014)
When speaking to an employer at the school, she commented that looking up into the void reminded her of looking at the flower motif so often used by Macintosh. In agreement with this, I question whether it was the soft materials used within the space that evoked a sense of peace and reminiscence within me, or whether it was the artistic patterns of light cast across the surfaces, reminiscent of church light and of Macintosh’s historical influence, that made me feel somewhat reflective. In truth, it was the shards of coloured light that I was so captivated by, and the quiet sense of time passing within the space, however, it is most likely the density of the solid concrete that creates such stillness, and imagining the void in another material such as brick, I don’t believe I would have felt the same level of tranquility.