Macktime
(Foulis building rubble in front of the Mackintosh building: Glasgow, Scotland)
The weather has hindered me in getting decent shots of the Foulis building where I studied during my degree. The intact building you can see here is the Mackintosh building – best loved of all the Glasgow School of Art buildings and arguably the only decent one. As for the Foulis, it stood, or rather squatted, where this bank of rubble now lies and was most certainly one of the least loved buildings from the school. It was not well suited to its purpose and quite frankly looked hideous. You may recall seeing the interior when I attended the ‘demolition party’ held there in the Summer. I’m looking forward to seeing how the demolition and rebuild will progress over the next couple of years, especially since I pass these buildings (or what is left of them) several times a week. I’ve been surprised over the past few weeks of demolition that there hasn’t been much noise (unless you count the shouts from the team of unintelligible Geordies employed in the flattening procedure), despite the robots eating the buildings from the inside out* and the huge pinchy arm of the ‘Dem Master’ crushing and tearing sheets of twisted metal and dragging them to the ground. It’s more of a diversion than the inconvenience I thought it might be.
In other related news, I was interviewed by the BBC about the Foulis last week – clearly they have seen my televisual exploits as an audience member over the past few months and decided they must harness my natural command of the camera lens. A fellow graduate asked me if I would help her out on a documentary that has been commissioned, so I was glad to oblige with a brief chat about my feelings towards the building. Not much of it was complimentary. I happened to mention that I was surprised that the demise of the Foulis has resulted in the vista from my kitchen window being far superior to before. The Foulis blocked my view of the Mack building. Without the Foulis or the leaves on the park trees obstructing my view, the Mackintosh is resplendent at night, up lit like a solid gold bar (with windows). The camera crew then threatened that they might return to film a few shots from my kitchen window. I’m not sure my home is ready for that yet.
* Entirely true. Honest.
– Today Rosie is back home home and readying herself for Christmas in Carlisle, England –
[...] but as we must have gathered by now, I have been hungry since the mid 1980s. In demolition news, the two Glasgow School of Art buildings that were condemned have entirely gone now. They have razed the entire area and they are now [...]
OMG, I used to sit there!
If possible, could you please post a picture of the solid gold bar? I only seem to have 3 pictures of Glasgow and none are of the Mac.