Architecture

In 1903 the Glasgow School of Architecture was established jointly with the Glasgow and West of Scotland Technical College. Design classes were taught at GSA and construction classes at the College. Eugène Bourdon (1870-1916) was appointed the first Professor of Architectural Design in 1904 and the first diplomas in architecture were awarded in 1910. We hold over 100 drawings created by Bourdon when he was a student at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris; we presume he brought these to Glasgow to use as teaching aids.

In 1924 the University of Glasgow set up a BSc in architecture which was delivered at the Glasgow School of Architecture. Margaret Brash Brodie (1907-1997) was the first student to graduate from this course with a First Class Honours in Design in 1931. She went on to design the Women of the Empire Pavilion for the 1938 Glasgow Empire Exhibition, and to undertake work for the Air Ministry during WWII before setting up her own practice.

In the 1940s Isi Metzstein (1928-2012) and Andy MacMillan (1928-2014) met while studying architecture at the School. The two would go on to work together at Gillespie, Kidd and Coia architects for a period of over 30 years, producing some of the UK’s most celebrated post-war buildings. The Gillespie, Kidd and Coia archive contains drawings, photographs and job files for projects undertaken from the 1950s until 1987 when the firm closed.

The Glasgow School of Architecture came to an end in 1968, however, the Mackintosh School of Architecture (MSA) was established in 1970. The MSA is housed at Glasgow School of Art, and its degrees are accredited by the University of Glasgow.

In recent years, the Archives and Collections have collected examples of degree show work from prize-winning MSA students, including Rory More, Edward Cluer, Declan O’Donnell, Lewis Armstrong and Marco Zaccaria, and we continue to expand our holdings to better document the development of this discipline throughout its history at GSA.