GLASGOW.- The Glasgow School of Art is holding a whole host of events, tours, conferences and exhibitions from November 2009 - June 2010 to celebrate the centenary of the School’s Mackintosh Building, the architectural masterpiece designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh in 1896 and completed in 1909.

Recently voted the best British-designed building of the last 175 years in a national survey commissioned by the Royal Institute of British Architects, the Mackintosh Building is regarded by many as Mackintosh’s best-known and most respected building. Not only has it inspired the thousands of students who have studied within its walls over the last 100 years, but it has also become a favoured destination for a growing number of cultural tourists, so much so, that in excess of 20,000 visitors a year are accommodated on regular guided tours.

The focus of the celebrations during November and December will be Centenary Day on Tuesday 15th December 2009, marking exactly 100 years since the official opening of the Mackintosh Building . To mark this, in the morning the School is running special anniversary tours of the building for 100 members of the general public followed by the unveiling of a unique centenary donor plaque, designed and made by staff within the GSA’s School of Design, acknowledging the support of the hundreds of people who have supported the £8.7m Mackintosh Conservation and Access Project. This will be accompanied by music from the Scottish Ensemble and a performance by renowned writer Liz Lochhead.

From 4pm, the films Seven till Five – a day in the life of an art school (1933) by GSA graduate and pioneering film-maker Norman McLaren and the recent BBC documentary about the building, Mackintosh’s Masterpiece, will be projected onto the east and west façades of the Mackintosh Building for the public to enjoy.

Director of The Glasgow School of Art Seona Reid said: “It is a real pleasure to be able to celebrate the centenary of a building which has meant so much to so many people. This 100 year old building is, of course, a building of striking and important architectural heritage and, with support from Heritage Lottery Fund and many other supporters of our Mackintosh Conservation and Access Project, we are working hard to ensure we can look forward to celebrating its bicentenary in another hundred years! But the Building is not a museum. It is a working Art School building, full of students and the life they bring to it. As much as its poetic and inspiring design, that is what makes the Mackintosh Building so special. “

The Glasgow School of Art centenary programme during November and December 2009:

27th November 2009 – 6th February 2010 The Flower and the Green Leaf Exhibition, Mackintosh Gallery
This exhibition kicks off the year-long festivities to celebrate the 100 year anniversary of the opening of the landmark Mackintosh Building and will show work by staff and students teaching and attending the school at the time the Mackintosh Building opened in December 1909. Looking at all of the disciplines taught in 1909, the exhibition includes rarely seen paintings, drawings and textiles from the school’s own Archive and Collections Centre, as well as pieces from Glasgow Museums, Hunterian and Aberdeen Art Galleries collections. There is also a book, edited by the GSA’s Ray McKenzie, on sale to accompany the exhibition.

10th December 2009 - Unveiling of a Charles Rennie Mackintosh London plaque
A plaque marking Mackintosh’s time in London will be unveiled at 2 Hans Studio, 38 Glebe Place , Chelsea , the first time Mackintosh has been recognised in London .

10 – 15 December 2009 - International Architectural Student Competition
More than 150 students and professors from international architecture schools will converge at the GSA to undertake a 5 day project which will focus on the redevelopment of the site to the West of the Mackintosh Building , currently occupied by the GSA’s Bourdon Building .

14th December – International Architecture Symposium Glasgow Film Theatre
Chaired by the Secretary of the RIAS, Neil Baxter this is an opportunity to discuss and debate the contribution of Mackintosh as architect, furniture designer and artist. Keynote speakers include Paris based, renowned architectural historian Professor William J R Curtis, Barcelona based Benedetta Tagliabue Principal, EMBT Architects, Barcelona, Emeritus Professor Andrew Macmillan OBE, former Head of the Mackintosh School of Architecture, Professor Gordon Benson, of Benson+Forsyth Architects and Glasgow University Professor of Mackintosh Studies, Professor Pamela Robertson.

15th December – Centenary Day
10.00am- 100 People 100 Tours – 100 competition winners will be treated to a special centenary tour of the Mackintosh Building which will show the private and public spaces within the Mackintosh Building ending with drinks in the Mackintosh Lecture Theatre.

2.30pm - Official ceremony to mark the 100th anniversary to include performance and the unveiling of a unique centenary donor plaque, designed and made by staff within the GSA’s School of Design, acknowledging the support of the hundreds of people who have supported the £8.7m Mackintosh Conservation and Access Project.

3.45pm (approx) - Projection of the film Seven Till Five (1933) and documentary Mackintosh’s Masterpiece (BBC) onto the east and west facades of the Mackintosh Building. There will also be a special projection showing the names of our supporters.