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Glasgow School of Art, which has always been rebuilding itself before, during and after the growth of Charles Rennie Mackintosh's world-famous main building, has at last got something which is both functional and complementary to the old alma mater. While the School has been colonising other parts of its hill (including the old army building in Hill Street, St Aloysius' School and of course the Cottage, half-way along to Charing Cross), this was something needed, and the new building appears to give that stretch of Renfrew Street more of a 'campus' feel than it ever had with the piece-meal collection left over from the 'sixties and before that, the mix of old, almost vernacular -shaped stone buildings with a couple of modern add-ons. In reproduction and video, the new block looks a little too clean and as if "faced" rather than solidly built - although if the facing is something like stone, a little ageing could only improve this. For the moment, the space created between the two parts is definitely pleasing.
http://www.gsa.ac.uk/about-gsa/history-and-future/our-future/campus-redevelopment/
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Margo MacDonald, having struggled with Parkinson's Disease, died today.
She became the Face of Scottish Nationalism when she won the Govan by-election for the SNP in 1973, but always being very much a woman of her own priciples, fell out with the party leadership and left politics for journalism, returning to play a role in the SNP - short-lived, as she was not with the party's drift towards a more 'liberal' stance. Despite this she remains, in the public eye, that Face.
To quote BBC News:
Scottish Labour leader Johann Lamont, said: "Margo's passing sees a
bright light, and one of the biggest personalities and characters of
Scottish modern political life, go out.
"Her sense of humour, passion, integrity and unflinching
desire to speak truth to power, meant she came as close to a political
treasure in Scotland as I think it is possible to be."
'Force of nature'
Willie Rennie, leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats, added: "Margo was a force of nature in Scottish life."
