McGinlay Bell has won an ideas contest to reimagine a pair of domestic concepts drawn up by Charles Rennie Mackintosh in 1900.

The Glasgow-based practice’s design was described as a ‘runaway effort, beautifully presented’ with a ‘particularly individualistic’ take on the architect’s country house.

Second prize went to David MacRitchie and third prize to Gordon and Katy McGregor.

The Twin Dwellings of Singular Interest competition was organised by the Charles Rennie Mackintosh Society with two separate categories, for students and professionals.

It asked for 21st-century reinterpretations of Mackintosh’s hypothetical and unbuilt ‘Artist’s Town House and Studio’ and ‘Artist’s House and Studio in the Country’. Participants were asked to draw up proposals for an 80m² house on a site overlooking Sauchiehall Street in Glasgow and another on one of any four sites at Knapps Loch in rural Kilmacolm. Concepts had to include studio space for two artists.

R+D Studio was highly commended while, in the student category, commendations were given to Marta Gutowska, Nikitas Papadopoulos and Siiri Turpeinen, and 6B Pencil.

The Charles Rennie Mackintosh Society was founded in 1973 to promote the Scottish architect’s legacy and today has more than 1,000 members. The competition was part of the society’s programme of celebrations marking the 150th anniversary of Mackintosh’s birth.

In 2018, the Glasgow Institute of Architects held a separate contest – won by Mackintosh School of Architecture graduate Alistair Reid – for a temporary cardboard structure to be erected inside the billiard room at Mackintosh at the Willow to mark the same anniversary.

Article from Architects Journal 1 April 2020

The Charles Rennie Mackintosh Society is grateful to DSB Award for their generous contribution to the competition.

Readers’ comments (2)
ROBERT WAKEHAM 1 APRIL, 2020 7:35 AM
A snippet of cheer at a time when it’s just been announced necessary to abandon the ongoing work of clearing the debris from the burnt out wreckage of the Glasgow School of Art.

ALAN DUNLOP 1 APRIL, 2020 7:37 AM
Yes indeed, nice work from a talented practice. Lovely drawings and models