The Glasgow School of Art have announced that they will hold two symposiums in order to discuss the restoration of the school's library which was devastated in a fire in May of this year. The first conference, to be held in Venice's Querini Stampalia, will act as a precursor to a second conference to be held in Glasgow in 2015. According to Professor Christopher Platt, head of the Mackintosh School of Architecture, the meetings will help to answer the question: "What should the plans be for bringing the Mackintosh building into full use once more and how should we approach the particular issue of the Macintosh library?"
For Scotland's Culture Secretary, Fiona Hyslop, "the symposium at the Querini Stampalia, prior to the spring symposium in Glasgow, will provide an important opportunity with an international audience to discuss Mackintosh's Glasgow School of Art and, in particular, to consider the highly-sensitive challenges relating to the rebuild of its library."
The fire partially destroyed the Grade A-listed fabric of the building, with around a tenth of the structure and 30% of its contents lost - primarily from the library which was designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh in the early 20th century.
Glasgow School of Art Begins to Pick Up the Pieces
References: The Guardian / Press Association
