The Lighthouse
The genius loci of Glasgow consist on the multitude of puzzle pieces fitted together. It seems somewhat overlooked that the history of architecture holds in place so much about humanity and our customs. It is a testament of both our greatest and lowest achievements.
‘The Lighthouse’ is an urban building that has the Glasgow Building Preservation Trust as client, on the 520 Sauchiehall Street – 341 Renfrew Street plot. The trust aims to breathe life into abandoned buildings, refurbishing and repurposing them to be given back to the people and the city. Considering the client, the theme of this project is ‘puzzle pieces’. It will constitute a way of acknowledging their implication in society, and the new quarters will be a visual representation of their ethos.
The scheme aims to create interconnectivity in between multiple aspects of society and built environment: the site and the area around it, the sequencing of internal spaces, the connection in between people and the public building. All of these will be interwoven with sustainability, adaptability and accessibility principles, which dictate the integration of the building to modern standards.
The site, placed on one of the main shopping streets of Glasgow, is hosting an old music lounge-turned-cinema-turned-club, which has been closed in the last decade. It is on the Buildings at Risk list, and the facades present a category B listed historical value. The building presents an intricate system of small and quite awkward rooms, with multiple noted alterations influencing the shape, materiality and style of it. This allows for the added feeling of puzzlement.
Considering the client’s aim to reintroduce the buildings into society’s use and their dealings with construction in general, I created a project worth remembering. I designed a building deemed to be appreciated as an object in itself, not only through the inhabitable space in the interior. I delivered a scheme that will attract visitors curious to explore the inside of such an unexpected building. Through the materiality of the new exterior, the effect of a lighthouse is created- in the daytime, a faint occupancy is visible through the transparency of the glass bricks, while at night, the light from inside would shine as a beacon towards the exterior. The usage of reclaimed materials acts as a token to the historical nature of the site and of the client’s ethos.
The relationship between the old and the new was carefully considered. The retained was treated as historical ruins, from which the new built was raised. Remnants of walls, of materials, of spaces were saved all around the lower floors. Cornices or other elements from the demolition can be later hosted by the archive or exposed in the museum, noting closely the layers of history hosted by the building. The new is designed to create an opposition to the original, while maintaining a visual connectivity to the context, hence the introduction of glass bricks and the usage of retained bricks from demolitions. The double-skin system of glass bricks resolves lighting and ventilation issues raised by the site constrains. The introduction of circulation cores acts as both a structural and a accessibility element. These driven voids can be easily read in plan through their angled positioning, bringing dynamism in the project. They also act as lightwells, doubling as ventilation and escape cores. In section, the new and the old are visually divided by the creation of an urban garden on Level 03.
The building programme caters to internal occupants mostly through the Renfrew entrance, and to general public from the Sauchiehall one. The spaces are designed to attract constant influx of new people, and potentially create regular users outside of GBPT. The archive, museum and library, if fitted properly, can be used by the art students of GSA. The café, bar, and event spaces can host anyone.
The proposal aims to give the building back to the public, to create a space worth visiting and to allow more people to get interested in the work of GBPT, while giving them a permanent space for discussion and for public engagement.
