After the Creative Café on Saturday - a small turnout with just Christine and myself - everyone else seems to be dissipated all over the earth on various missions... we decided to totter along to the new exhibition of the work of Gillespie, Kidd and Coia architects at the Lighthouse in Glasgow.
I was drawn (excuse the draughtsman's pun) to the exhibition after hearing an interview on BBC radio 4 earlier in the week, where Andy MacMillan and Isi Metzstein - really the chief architects of this practice - were being interviewed about their Retrospective. I think the interviewer said they were both in their 80's, and I was taken by the fluidity, strength and intelligence of their discussions - still both sharp as tacks, and their interpretation of their own experiences and ideas about architecture were both fascinating, accessible and entertaining.
I thought, I could listen to these 2 for hours - not knowing that a large part of the exhibition consists of short films of interviews with Isi and Andy, which are charmingly fascinating. There are some clips of the films here which give you a flavour. The main film was a 'Slide-In' where the speakers sat infront of a small audience and were prompted by watching a series of slides of their own work, mixed with images from the history of architecture, and the discourse came from there. The film was made by director, and (I presume) relative Saul Metzstein, and is very well done - allowing the personalities of the 2 colleagues to come through at times rather like Jim Henson's bickering old men in the balcony (with all due respect).
By coincidence, I and many other freelance friends have worked on productions based in the GKC building of the former St Andrews College in Bearsden. GKC were responsible for a huge number of buildings for the Catholic Church in and around Glasgow in a period between the 50's and 80's, which also includes the now neglected and abandoned St Peter's Seminary building near Cardross.
The Seminary is probably virtually unknown to most locals here, but is listed in the World Monument Fund as one of the worlds "100 Most Endangered Sites"! This image shows the influence of Corbusier's Ronchamp Chapel - a history of architecture staple I always thought looked like a mushroom - in this picture you can SEE the ceiling looks like a scrubbed mushroom!
(Artist Alex Hartley who I mentioned in this post also based one of his photographic pieces on a climb he did over this structure.) - ...we have er...stumbled upon it too (climbed through the hole in the hedge...) but it is actually off bounds to trespassers, ...and now has a rather creepy atmosphere!
The exhibition extends over 2 floors and is packed with information, handdrawn technical drawings (sigh,...a Jedi art), photographs, models and 3-d computer models of their work. What I loved best is the personal touches such as photographs, Andy MacMillan's sketchbooks and Isi's studio smock in amongst it all to give a feeling of how their work and lives have been connected.
Afterwards, Christine and I climbed the Mackintosh tower - which I had never been up before. The panoramic views of Glasgow from the top are just amazing, along with vertigo-tummy... another day when I forgot to take my camera.
If you are nearby, you'll just have to see it for yourself.
The exhibition runs until 10 feb 2008, and is well worth £3 entry.
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