A philosopher's contribution to the Mac debate

Drone footage showing fire damage to the Mac

The chance for young architects to learn about Mackintosh’s technical innovations is one argument for rebuilding the Mac, says Harald Røstvik

The devastating fire that destroyed the 1909 grade A-listed Glasgow School of Art (GSA), designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh, raises some fundamental questions to be addressed during the next few months.

My experience from similar tasks – among them the differently scaled rebuilding of the writing house of Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951) in Skjolden, Norway – can perhaps help shed light on and structure the many possible lines of argument.

While the Mac building is huge, the Ludwig Wittgenstein (LW) house is only 59sq m – yet many of the considerations we had to make in order to reach a decision to rebuild were similar.

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