Experts in 3D laser scanning have been scanning the fire-damaged western gable wall of Glasgow School of Art to support the early phase of reconstruction of the much-loved Charles Rennie Mackintosh building.
Experts from the Digital Design Studio, which is itself part of Glasgow School of Art but based off-campus, have now created a 3D plan of the western gable.
Specialists from Historic Scotland then marked up the stones according to the data in the plan, and work has now begun in deconstructing the damaged wall and laying aside sections of stonework for conservation.
The work will be undertaken by specialist stone masons with the stones being protected at Historic Scotland’s Cathedral Depot in Glasgow for reinstatement at a later date.
According to online magazine Dezeen, further work will take place after the building has been fully assessed, and the school is currently finding the "appropriate people" to work on the project.
Also last week, GSA students who have now returned to the building gave a guard of honour send-off to the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service when they left the central Glasgow campus. They had been in 24-hour attendance since the fire broke out in the Mackintosh Building on Friday 23 May.
The last of the SFRS appliances drove off accompanied by a piper and loud cheers from GSA staff and students.
Professor Tom Inns, director of The Glasgow School of Art, said: “We did not want to miss this opportunity to once again register our deep and heartfelt thanks to the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service who over the last week have been quite simply amazing.”
The Architects’ Journal magazine, which recently awarded the GSA’s Reid Building extension the title “AJ 100 Building of the Year”, has also announced it is giving a special architectural award to the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service for its efforts in saving one of the world’s most well-known Art Nouveau buildings.
