GSA Library Architecture News

New e-books in the Library

2012-03-01T10:06:00.000Z

The following books are now available electronically to GSA all staff and students. They can be read both on- and off-campus using a MyGSA account; details are on the Library's online catalogue:

The architect's studio companion (Allen)
Rethinking the meaning of place (Castello)
Building construction illustrated (Ching)
Building construction handbook (Chudley)
Sustainable renovation (Gelfand)
Sustainable urban neighbourhood (Rudlin)

Skateboarders 'essential' for cities

2012-02-27T16:06:00.000Z

'The Independent' has a summary of a lecture by urban commentator Iain Borden in which he makes a plea for practices and spaces that are more creative in their engagement with cities, and which go beyond the shopping mall and the piazza. The Library here at GSA has a good selection of Borden's thought-provoking writings, including his 'Skateboarding, space and the city', which reflects his passion for the sport.

Whose plan is it anyway?

2012-02-23T09:34:00.000Z

On the evening of 5 March, Glasgow City Heritage Trust and the Scottish Civic Trust are holding an event which seeks to demystify the planning process and examine the do's and don'ts of community consultation and participation. For an example of the complexity of the issues and their potentially long-lasting impact on a community, have a look at this interesting online discussion about the new Scottish Epilepsy Centre in Govan, which replaces a controversially-demolished Victorian school sited just outside the Govan Conservation Area:
http://www.urbanrealm.com/news/3345/Scottish_Epilepsy_Centre_commences_construction.htmlabout

Peter Womersley

2012-02-17T09:25:00.000Z

Historic Scotland has produced a free online booklet looking at the career of Peter Womersley (1923-1993), known for his small but varied architectural output in central and southern Scotland. Key buildings are described and illustrated, and there is a short bibliography.

The case for space

2012-02-16T11:14:00.000Z

The RIBA has produced a report looking at the internal floor area of privately developed homes on a sample of sites currently being built by England’s eight largest volume housebuilders, and comparing the findings to the Greater London Authority’s space standards to benchmark good practice. The initiative is part of wider work by the RIBA in this field, including its HomeWise campaign to improve new build housing and its Home Season events which explore the past, present and future of the home.

Conversations on Glasgow

2012-02-13T09:47:00.000Z

The Glasgow Urban Lab at the Mackintosh School of Architecture has just published a report by Professor Ann Markusen on Glasgow's past, present and future, which looks at some key issues including health, the forthcoming Commonwealth Games, and the arts and culture. The online report, 'Conversations on Glasgow' is a result of Professor Markusen's tenure at the Lab as Fulbright Distinguished Chair during the 2010/11 academic year.

V!RUS e-journal

2012-02-09T10:17:00.000Z

V!RUS is a free e-journal published by the Architecture and Urbanism Department of the University of San Paolo, Brazil. Living up to its name, it's on a rather migraine-inducing website, but appears to cover a diverse range of theoretical topics in a variety of digital formats. Six issues of the journal are currently available.

Historic Scotland: Sharing the Vision

2012-02-06T09:39:00.000Z

Glasgow's Grand Central Hotel is hosting a free public exhibition on Wednesday 29 February in conjunction with the annual Historic Scotland conference. The exhibition, 'Sharing the Vision', will highlight Historic Scotland's contribution to economic growth, tourism, sustainable development and regeneration. The work of departments including Conservation, Commercial and Tourism, Policy and Outreach, Heritage Management and Finance will be highlighted, and staff will be on hand to answer questions.

RIBA Sustainability Hub

2012-02-02T15:40:00.000Z

The RIBA has created this Hub to to provide a free, central internet resource on all aspects of sustainable design in architecture. It includes Design Strategy pages which offer an introduction to techniques, materials and practices; Case Study pages which explain how these strategies were incorporated; and Sustainability Hub Shorts: short films designed to connect theory into practice.

JCT student essay competition

2012-01-26T13:51:00.000Z

The Joint Contracts Tribunal's (JCT) Education and Training Initiative was launched last year to provide the construction sector with a complete education and training package, including groups to support both students and education providers. As part of the Initiative, JCT has launched a student essay competition on one of two topics: “A Vision for the Future of Construction” or “The Future of Construction Contract Management in the Digital Age”. Generous prize monies are on offer, and students can enter as individuals or as a team of up to three.

The growth and decline of Glasgow's railways

2012-01-25T09:18:00.000Z

Architect Fiona Sinclair is presenting an illustrated talk on Glasgow's lost railway heritage and the architecture associated with the growth of railways along the coast on Thursday 26 January at 7.30pm in Adelaide's, at the corner of Bath and Pitt Streets in Glasgow. The event is part of the Architectural Heritage Society of Scotland's winter lecture series, all of which are free to students.

Scottish Post Office directories

2012-01-24T12:06:00.000Z

The National Library of Scotland has recently digitised and made freely available online 694 Post Office directories for the period 1773 to 1911, covering 28 of Scotland's towns and counties, including Glasgow and its suburbs. These annual directories incorporate an alphabetical list of a town's or county's inhabitants, and represent another piece in the jigsaw when researching the history of a building or place.

New South Glasgow Hospital campus

2012-01-23T13:53:00.000Z

One of the largest hospital campuses in Europe is beginning to take shape in the Govan area of Glasgow, a massive project that has so far received little coverage in the architectural press. Architects Nightingale Associates and contractors Brookfield are behind the massive £842 million scheme for the 'super hospital'. The NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde is a good source for further information, and includes concept and construction images, together with a virtual video fly-through.

Mackintosh Italian sketchbook website

2012-01-11T15:57:00.000Z

The website which showcases the contents of Charles Rennie Mackintosh's wonderful 1891 Northern Italian sketchbook, held by Glasgow School of Art's Archives and collections, has received a makeover. It now incorporates 'turn the pages' technology to provide a more enjoyable browsing experience. The sketchbook's contents remain fully searchable, and the website retains the popular interactive Baedeker maps.

Report from Mary, Queen of Shops

2011-12-14T08:58:00.000Z

Retail expert Mary Portas has just published her review of the future of Britain's ailing high streets, which was prompted by concerns about a doubling of town centre vacancy rates in just two years. Her review makes a number of recommendations which, if implemented, would have an impact on the built environment and public space in town centres.

New design in historic settings

2011-12-13T09:20:00.000Z

A new joint publication from Historic Scotland, Architecture and Place, and Architecture and Design Scotland explores how the standard of new design in historic settings can be raised. The guidance sets out some broad principles and illustrates them with reference to examples of good practice from around Scotland. These include St Aloysius Junior School, Glasgow; the Scottish Poetry Library, Edinburgh; the Pier Arts Centre, Stromness; the Lotte Glob house, Sutherland; the Culloden Visitor Centre; and Glasgow's Cathedral Precinct.

Architectural procurement in Scotland

2011-12-12T09:04:00.000Z

The RIAS (Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland) has just published its long-awaited report on architectural procurement, which is freely available online. The report suggests that the process in Scotland is costly, inefficient, and damaging to both the economy and construction employment, and makes recommendations to improve the situation.

Scottish six-inch maps online

2011-12-05T08:52:00.000Z

The National Library of Scotland has recently added 7486(!) map sheets to its already vast online collection. The maps are the six-inch to the mile and later edition maps of Scotland and cover the period 1892-1960. At this scale, they illustrate a very wide range of natural and man-made features and are excellent for local history. It is possible to zoom into the detail of the maps using an interactive index map, and to search by county, parish and a gazetteer of place names.

Living (e)Books

2011-12-02T09:04:00.000Z

A series of 21 'Living Books about Life' has been launched online as part of a pioneering initiative to provide a bridge between the humanities and the sciences. The books are written and produced by humanities scholars from universities worldwide, and re-package scientific research to make it more accessible, and freely available, to a non-scientific audience. Several of the titles are likely to be of interest to architects, and feature topics such as surveillance, energy, and the man-machine interface.

Bertrand Goldberg and Marina City

2011-12-01T09:11:00.000Z

We've just added a new book, 'Bertrand Goldberg, architecture of invention' to library stock. It's the catalogue of the exhibition currently at the Art Institute of Chicago, which itself is accompanied by a website showcasing some little-known material. Anyone wanting to find out more about Goldberg's Marina City development might also be interested in a 'A city within a city'; an original brochure about the complex that we hold in our store.

The British Newspaper Archive

2011-11-29T09:10:00.000Z

Today sees the launch of 4 million pages of newspapers from the 18th and 19th centuries, which have been made available online by the British Library. The archive is free to search, but there is a charge to access the actual newspaper pages themselves. Nevertheless, the database would be a useful tool for contextual research into the history of the built environment, and could be used in conjunction with the historic newspaper holdings of libraries such as Glasgow's Mitchell Library.

Hepworth Gallery, Wakefield

2011-11-28T09:46:00.000Z

The Concrete Centre has a short webcast which features David Chipperfield discussing the ideas behind his riverside Hepworth Gallery in Wakefield, which uses concrete cast on-site.

St Peter's Seminary, Cardross

2011-11-22T12:04:00.000Z

GSA's School of Fine Art have organised a lecture at the Glasgow Film Theatre at 11am on Friday 25 November which will be given by Angus Farquhar of public art charity NVA. NVA are currently working on a radical plan for the derelict seminary complex at Cardross, near Glasgow, designed by Gillespie, Kidd & Coia. The lecture is an opportunity to learn more about these plans, and the wider context of the survival and reuse of modernist architecture.

Nanontechnology in construction

2011-11-18T12:58:00.000Z

NBS (the National Building Specification) regularly produce web-based articles on various aspects of building technology, and these can provide a useful point of entry into topics of current interest. A good example from this series is 'nanotechnology in construction' which offers a good overview of the subject together with links to further sources of information.

Passivhaus primers

2011-11-17T11:46:00.002Z

The BRE (Building Research Establishment) has published online a series of documents which set out the key principles of the Passivhaus low energy construction standard, and explain the process and application of Passivhaus design.