
The Lighthouse, Glasgow
Key Facts
Client
Glasgow 1999 Festival Company
Location
Mitchell Lane, Glasgow
Value
£10,500,000
Internal Floor Area
6,690m2
Completion
February 1999
A new life for a valuable endangered building.
Project Info
In 1995, Page\Park won a limited competition for a new centre of architecture and design in Glasgow, with a related retail function, to generate revenue to support the centre. This project involved conversion and extension of the remaining part of the 1895 Glasgow Herald Building, Mitchell Street, Glasgow. Although the Architects were the local firm of Honeyman and Keppie, it would seem that Charles Rennie Mackintosh who worked in their office at the time was substantially responsible.
Scotland’s National Centre for Architecture, Design and the City was created from two new buildings attached to the existing building. Page \ Park left the fabric of the Mackintosh building virtually untouched, by inserting two new buildings attached to it. The addition on the East side is a vertical circulation and service foyer reaching the full height of the building. This foyer gives access to galleries, education, IT and children’s areas, a café, and finally a new viewing tower with lift access for all. On the South side, the other addition houses essential ancillary accommodation. The ground floor of the existing building is occupied by retail.
In the corner tower of the existing building, which used to house a huge water tank for sprinkler supply, Page\Park have inserted a hanging spiral staircase, connecting the Mackintosh gallery with a rooftop balcony overlooking the centre of Glasgow



