Art school fire paintings shortlisted for top award

Three watercolour paintings depicting the fire that destroyed Glasgow School of Art (GSA) have been shortlisted for an international prize.

Prof Alan Dunlop painted them in 2018 following the second fire in the Charles Rennie Mackintosh designed building.

Prof Dunlop studied architecture at the GSA.

His paintings are among 250 pictures submitted to the 2023 Architecture Drawing prize.

The prize is part of the World Architecture Festival, which begins in Singapore next week. The overall winner will be announced in January with works being displayed in Singapore and London.

Most of the 250 entries were hand drawn, including Prof Dunlop's watercolour triptych.

He said drawing and sketching are "fundamental" to how he works and teaches.

"I take a sketchbook everywhere. It's like a time machine and I encourage all my students to draw. Drawing is the language of the architect.

"I know through my experience as an architect and designer that through the hand and by sketching, you can find solutions to problems quicker than the brain.

Prof Dunlop has been a persistent critic of the management of the GSA and its handling of the two fires and ran for chair of the board at the school in 2022.

He hopes being shortlisted for the prize will help raise awareness of events at the school.

"It's a big deal to be shortlisted for the prize and I'm confident it will keep the continuing debacle surrounding the delayed rebuild and procurement of the Mackintosh school in the news," he said.

The remains of the building are currently under a protective membrane wrap to dry out, a process which is expected to take up to two years.

This follows the removal of large scale material and debris, a process that GSA say was slowed by the pandemic and the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service investigation.

Other work is being undertaken during the drying out process. The pillars from the Mackintosh Library have been taken down, and the original steel beams surveyed for use in the rebuild.

A large part of the original brickwork survived the fire, along with "significant" amounts of stonework and part of the new phase will involve reinstating, and replacing the originals, in what the schools director Penny Macbeth describes as "a complex reinstatement project" requiring patience and support.

A spokesman for Glasgow School of Art congratulated Prof Dunlop on his shortlisting and outlined progress on the restoration.

"In June we announced a key stage in the project enabling the building to dry out, further surveys, down taking and stabilisation works to progress with a reduction in the site footprint," they said.

"It has meant we've been able to take down scaffolding which has enabled work on the Reid Building re-glazing to commence."

The Reid building, which opened in 2014 shortly before the first fire, sits adjacent to the Mackintosh building and now houses the architecture school.

Intense heat from the 2018 fire damaged a number of panels on the translucent cladding on the building, which is now being repaired.