The Mackintosh Building: Site, Light and Space is a digital animation exploring the design and phasing of the Glasgow School of Art building by the world-renowned architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh. It was produced as part of the interpretive presentation installed in the Window on the Mack, a visitor reception/exhibition space in the Reid Building, completed in 2014. Bill Macpherson of MkW Design Partnership, Edinburgh, and reconstruction artist Bob Marshall collaborated on the animations [1, 2].
The purpose of the film was to focus on how the design of the building, in a strategic sense, deals with the challenge of the steep south-facing hill-top site, combined with the need to provide as much north-lit studio space as possible; also the phasing of the construction, the internal circulation, spatial arrangement and the relationship of the internal spaces to the building exterior - expressed in the fenestration.
Using illustrative techniques in animation [3, 4] - layering, transparency, highlighting, cut-away, build-up, changing viewpoint – the architect’s response to the site, the phasing of construction, spatial arrangement and fenestration could be visually explored and explained.
The film intended to give visitors without a deep knowledge of the building a clearer understanding of Mackintosh’s genius – in handling the demands of the brief and site, the design of interior space, and the control of daylight – while enriching the whole with an original decorative language and detailing all his own.
Just weeks after the new exhibition opened, the first of two major fires occurred at the Art School on 23 May 2014, caused by a canister of expanding foam near a hot projector, which ignited flammable gases. A restoration programme quickly got underway; however, as this work neared completion, a second fire broke out on 15 June 2018 - its impact far more destructive than the first event. The cause of the second fire remains undetermined [5].
Updating the digital model (2026)
In 2026, a campaign to Rebuild the Mack [6], led by Malcolm Fraser, Architect and Professor Johnny Rodger, inspired Bob to reopen and update the digital model from the 2014 project. The animations were originally produced in standard High-Definition (HD) resolution, and Bob wanted to re-render them in 4K (UHD) format, while also taking advantage of improvements in 3D technologies that emerged in the ten years since the original project was conceived.
Bob now intends to create a longer film by extending the animations to include more of the interior architecture, combining archival material, Mackintosh’s architectural drawings, contemporary photography taken before the two damaging fires, and a professional voice-over. He hopes the film will help support the rebuilding campaign. If you are interested in Glasgow's architectural history, the work of Charles Rennie Mackintosh, and helping Bob with the film's production, he is looking for potential collaborators - particularly someone with script-writing experience. Please contact him through his website.
Footnotes
[1] The Mackintosh Building - Site, Light, and Space
Link to original 2014 project: https://bobmarshall.co.uk/image/115/The-Mackintosh-Building-Glasgow-School-of-Art
[2] Background to the video animation
2005 - MkW Design Partnership (Edinburgh) were appointed by Glasgow School of Art to provide an Interpretation and Visitor Management Strategy as part of their funding application to the Heritage Lottery Fund for the Mackintosh Access and Conservation project carried out by Page/Park and ZM Architects. The study included a costed schedule of proposed interpretive content and possible media, including short films. One, entitled ‘Portrait of a Building’, later became Site, Light and Space.
The document also described ZM’s concept of the Window on the Mack, which enabled visitors to view the front elevation from a visitor reception space in the proposed new building occupying almost the whole north side of Renfrew Street.
During the procurement and design stages of the Reid building, circa 2005 to 2011, MkW worked with ZM and the School’s curatorial and archive staff on providing improved visitor reception and interpretation in the Mack, including a timeline, interactive table, a display of Mackintosh’s drawings and an existing scale model – all within a new furniture, exhibition and retail space created by ZM in the former studios in the eastern basement level.
2011 - With the space taking shape in the new building, and the funding in place, MkW were appointed to work with ZM and GSA on all aspects of the design and content of the Window on the Mack interpretive exhibition and visitor reception.
Bill Macpherson of MkW wrote a brief, including an outline treatment, for the short film/animation Site, Light and Space, and appointed Bob Marshall as 3D artist. A creative collaboration followed, producing the version used in the exhibition.
2014 - The Window on the Mack exhibition opens in the Reid Building at Glasgow School of Art.
A 3D model of the Mackintosh building was developed from facsimile copies of Charles Rennie Mackintosh's 1907-10 architectural drawings, and was guided by some of Mike Strang's orthogonal-view CAD drawings published in 'Mackintosh's Masterwork: The Glasgow School of Art' (R.D. Publishing, Glasgow. 1989). These show the two construction phases in 1899 and 1909. Taking this a stage further, Bob visualised the Art School's setting within Garnethill, and modelled most of the building's interior spaces, including the library, studios, lecture theatre, basements, and even some of the furniture. Due to time constraints on the 2014 project, some interior spaces were omitted from the digital model.
The animation was produced by stylising the rendering with a simple black-and-white outline and a limited colour palette. The intention was to simplify visual communication and to complement Mackintosh's drawings, which could be viewed in pull-out drawers beneath the screen, with the animation running on a continuous loop.
2014 - Blender 3D, Internal Render Engine, Photoshop, Adobe After Effects
2026 - Blender 3D, EEVEE/MALT Render Engine, Photoshop, DaVinci Resolve
[5] Publication of investigation report into June 2018 fire at The Glasgow School of Art
Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS), 25 Jan 2022.
Rebuild the Mack is an independent campaign calling for the full reconstruction of Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s Glasgow School of Art building (“the Mack”), which was severely damaged by fires in 2014 and 2018. Its central purpose is to secure a complete, faithful rebuilding rather than partial repair, façade retention, or a substantially modern replacement.





































