With these intentions, last Friday began in Glasgow the celebration to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the birth of Charles Rennie Mackintosh, its world-renowned architect. This anniversary was presented as a recovery of his figure, he inaugurated the rehabilitation of one of his most famous buildings Willow Tea Rooms, close to another that was in a process of restoration very advanced after having suffered a fire almost on the same dates, 4 years ago.
Just one week later, on Friday, June 15, one of the most significant works of Charles Rennie Mackintosh, the Glasgow School of Art, returned to burn, and this time was due a huge fire, causing its future in this moment is notoriously dark.
Below, a brief note about some of the works of this important architect.
Charles Mackintosh (1868-1928), architect, designer and aquarelist, was of fundamental importance in the Arts and Crafts movement, as well as being the greatest exponent of Art Nouveau in Scotland. Considered of the first protomodernistas, it tries to reform breaking with the previous thing. He participated in the Vienna Secession of 1900 presenting his furniture, act that would give him fame.
Just one week later, on Friday, June 15, one of the most significant works of Charles Rennie Mackintosh, the Glasgow School of Art, returned to burn, and this time was due a huge fire, causing its future in this moment is notoriously dark.
Below, a brief note about some of the works of this important architect.
Charles Mackintosh (1868-1928), architect, designer and aquarelist, was of fundamental importance in the Arts and Crafts movement, as well as being the greatest exponent of Art Nouveau in Scotland. Considered of the first protomodernistas, it tries to reform breaking with the previous thing. He participated in the Vienna Secession of 1900 presenting his furniture, act that would give him fame.
Leave behind the historical heritage and decide on the geometry, the cubic, the games of straight lines and the taste for the ascending line. At first its ornaments are flat, always generating abstract forms. Parallel vertical lines thin, very thin, interrupted by small squares that, while retaining their rigidity, do not leave at any time to be labyrinthine.
Mackintosh thought of his projects as organized units, in which the final All is much more than the sum of the parts. He wanted to give his work a functional and spiritual orientation, thanks to an approach to architecture and drawing, associating symbolism and balance between opposing factors: modernity-tradition, masculine-feminine, light-dark.
Being his first residential project finished Windyhill, a house designed for the businessman and collector of art William Davidson, in the village of Kilmacolm, and Hill House was the second, it has been this one that has become the best known. It is considered the best expression of its residential architecture.
Thus, the Hill House, realized in 1902 and located in Helensburgh, is widely recognized as the most important residential work of the Scottish architect. Mackintosh manages to change the traditional Scottish values with the modern international ideas used at that time.
A robust exterior with total absence of decoration and gray monochrome, makes reference to Scottish vernacular architecture. In contrast, inside we discovered a purely ornamental design, with oriental themes and art-nouveau and art-deco details. The composition of volumes is remarkable in its irregularity: roofs, towers chimneys or prisms are mixed together.
In the interior decoration, total contrast with the perception of the facade. Particularly noteworthy are the living room and the master bedroom, examples of the white rooms through which Mackintosh became famous. These austere, bright and spacious rooms took full advantage of the natural light available and were extremely novel at that time. For the design of practically all the elements of the project (furniture, lighting, chimneys or textiles), Mackintosh collaborated with his wife, the artist Margaret MacDonald.
The National Trust of Scotland has begun the rehabilitation of the exterior of its façade, attaching a new and transparent second structure, designed by Carmody Groarke, that will cover it in its entirety and also provide a new experience for visitors, since the structure is added with some elevated platforms and viewpoints, which will provide new points of view of the project not seen until now, as well as observing the work in its progress. Andy Groarke, founding partner of Carmody Groarke says:
"The National Trust of Scotland is taking a very bold approach to the conservation of Hill House, one that is radical and experimental in the search for new methods to extend the lifespan of our heritage, and that invites public interaction and interpretation. We are very proud to be part of this pioneering project and to have the opportunity to learn first-hand about the residential masterpiece of Charles Rennie Mackintosh. "
He consecrated himself as an architect when preparing the project for the Glasgow School of Art, begun in 1897 and inaugurated in 1899, in a rationalist style in which a rectangular structure is combined with long and fine curves. One of the main requirements of the project was the lighting conditioning of the interior spaces. To do this, numerous openings are created, both on the façade and on the roof, of the largest possible size to maximize the entry of natural light. Subsequently to this work by designing the library, in the period between 1907 and 1909, which highlights the horizontal beams and vertical pillars, subdividing the space in a completely new way.
