Dr. Robyne Calvert: Through the Fires: The Mack (In-Person Registration)

The Mackintosh building at the Glasgow School of Art (GSA) is a monument of international significance in the history of architecture and design. The building is considered the peak of its designer Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s practice: his masterwork. For the next century, its resilient structure, soaring studios and atmospheric spaces served to educate and inspire generations of architects, artists and designers, attracting visitors from around the globe, until the building fell victim to two fires in 2014 and 2018. This talk will present highlights from The Mack: Charles Rennie Mackintosh and the Glasgow School of Art (Yale University Press, 2024), the most up-to-date story of the building, including the May 2014 fire, reconstruction efforts, and the devastating fire of 2018 that destroyed most of the building.

Dr Robyne Calvert is a Cultural Historian and teaches across the University of Glasgow’s College of Arts & Humanities. A Mackintosh expert, her book The Mack: Charles Rennie Mackintosh and the Glasgow School of Art (Yale University Press) won the 2024 Alice Davis Hitchcock Medallion for Architecture, sponsored by the Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain.