Context Civic infrastructure and public buildings reflect how a society chooses to live together. The 2013 Farrell Review recommended “Urban Rooms” where people can understand and get involved in the future of their place; a UK network
Urban Building Brief – An Urban Room For Glasgow (Civic Infrastructure) Institution The Glasgow School of Art (Mackintosh School of Architecture) Course Studio Work 4 (SW4), Stage 4, Semester 2 Project Urban Building – an Urban Room for Glasgow city centre Clients Glasgow Building Preservation Trust, Glasgow Institute of Architects, Urban Rooms Network Method Appraise, Integrate, Articulate; final exhibition and SW4 Design Report Following the Semester 1 housing project, this brief asks students to design an Urban Room for Glasgow: a civic public building where citizens can meet, debate and shape the city’s future, shared by three client organisations on a tight city-centre site.
Context Civic infrastructure and public buildings reflect how a society chooses to live together. The 2013 Farrell Review recommended “Urban Rooms” where people can understand and get involved in the future of their place; a UK network has grown since 2015. Glasgow, facing inequality, decline and the climate emergency, needs a city-centre civic platform where heritage, design and innovation converge. Three potential central sites are identified (for example Jamaica Street).
Design Challenge Frame a clear architectural position and propose a multifunctional programme with a coherent ordering idea in plan and section, demonstrating: hierarchy of primary and secondary spaces; legible relationships between programme elements; structural and tectonic logic; movement, accessibility and fire escape as part of the spatial order; and considered urban façades.
Client Objectives Public engagement and education: exhibitions, design charrettes and community consultations. Collaboration and innovation: co-locating the three clients with shared workspaces, meeting rooms and digital labs. Heritage and sustainability: adaptive reuse, low-carbon design and a demonstrator building for inclusive practice. Urban Room principles: transparency, flexibility and accessibility. Schedule Of Accommodation Entrance threshold; Urban Room for public debate and events; Innovation Lab; Glasgow Room (permanent exhibition); Heritage and Future Gallery (temporary exhibitions); client rooms; café bar; external civic space (loggia, terrace, courtyard or garden); and back-of-house facilities – all compliant with accessibility and fire escape legislation. The small footprint demands a vertical organisation of programme and circulation.
Technology, Research And Learning Outcomes Structure, construction, services and environmental control must be integrated and shape the building’s character, with health and safety taking precedence. Work proceeds through Appraise, Integrate and Articulate phases and is assessed on professionalism, design, research, communication, skills and knowledge in the context of Glasgow.v
