The Glasgow School of Art (GSA) is a higher education art school offering undergraduate degrees; post-graduate awards (both taught and research-led) and PhDs in architecture, fine art and design based in Glasgow, Scotland.
The school is housed in a number of buildings in the centre of Glasgow, upon Garnethill, an area first developed by William Harley of Blythswood Hill in the early 1800s. The most famous of its buildings was designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh in phases between 1896–1909. The eponymous Mackintosh Building soon became one of the city’s iconic landmarks and stood for over 100 years. It is an icon of the Modern Style (British Art Nouveau style). The building was severely damaged by fire in May 2014 and destroyed by a second fire in June 2018, with only the burnt-out shell remaining.
In 2022, GSA was placed 11th in the QS World Rankings for Art and Design, dropping from its 8th place ranking held for the previous 3 years.Despite its high ranking in selected league tables Glasgow School of Art has recently scored poorly for the quality of its student experience in the annual National Student Survey. In 2019 it had the lowest student satisfaction of an Higher Education provider in Scotland and in 2020 and 2021 it was the lowest in the UK.
Founded in 1845 as the Glasgow Government School of Design, the school changed its name to The Glasgow School of Art in 1853. Originally located at 12 Ingram Street the school moved to the McLellan Galleries in Sauchiehall Street in 1869.
In 1897, work began on a new building nearby to house the school on Renfrew Street, funded by a donation of £10,000 from the Bellahouston Trust, left from the will of Moses Stevens of Bellahouston. The building was designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh, chosen for the commission by the school’s director, Francis Newbery, who oversaw a period of expansion and fast-growing reputation. The first half of the building was completed in 1899 and the second half in 1909.
The School’s campus has grown since that time and in 2009 an international architectural competition was held to find an architect-led design team who would develop the Campus Masterplan and design the Phase 1 building. The competition was won by New York-based Steven Holl Architects working with Glasgow-based JM Architects.[8] The Reid Building was completed in 2014 and sits opposite the gutted Mackintosh Building on a site previously occupied by the Foulis, Assembly and Newbery Tower Buildings.
The school has produced most of Scotland’s leading contemporary artists including, since 2005, 30 per cent of Turner Prize nominees and five recent Turner Prize winners: Simon Starling in 2005, Richard Wright in 2009, Martin Boyce in 2011, Duncan Campbell in 2014 and Charlotte Prodger in 2018.
The School of Architecture is highly rated by the architecture profession[9] and the School of Design has been described by Design Week as “leaders in design education”.
The School is organised into five academic schools:
- The Mackintosh School of Architecture
- The School of Design
- The School of Fine Art
- The School of Simulation and Visualisation
- The Innovation School
GSA also has a long-established portfolio of non-degree art and design classes for children and adults delivered through GSA Open Studio.
Disciplines within the five schools include fine-art photography, painting and printmaking, sculpture and environmental art, product design, product-design engineering, textile design, fashion design, silversmithing and jewellery design, interior design, communication design, interaction design, and architecture.