IT WILL BE a gleaming new addition to the Glasgow skyline boasting a unique three-storey canvas of contemporary art.

Glasgow’s School of Art (GSA) has unveiled new images of its plans to redevelop the former Stow College building in the centre of the city, a landmark which stands right next to the M8.

Among the visual highlights for traffic and passers-by will be a large scale work by artist Ross Sinclair which will adorn the exterior of the campus.

The reborn brick 1930s building will be topped with a serrated copper roof extension which will be studded with with large windows to gaze over the north and west of the city.

Its designed has been inspired by those of Garnethill with the glinting canopy added to the former technical college as it is transformed into a new home for GSA students - a plan its architects say will “bring new life to a cherished Glasgow landmark.”

Designed by BDP architects, the building will offer Fine Art students unrivalled views.

This will be created by the removal of the current top floor, which was added in the 1960s and “is of much lower standard than the original building” the GSA said.

GSA said the newly revamped building, part of an £80 million campus redevelopment plan, could last for 100 years and will come into operation for the 2018/19 academic year.

The new extension will be designed to meet the needs of the Painting and Printmaking with “top-lit north-facing windows ensuring a substantial provision of wall space”.

The building’s redesign includes refurbishment of the five floors of the original 1930s building and glazing over the sizeable interior light wells to form two atria.

The new designs place a large sculpture inside a large atrium, a detail added as an “indicative” guide to what could be placed inside the building, rather than a prediction.

BDP Architects said in a statement: “We have sought to develop a scheme that has a contextual relationship to the linear pitched forms of Garnethill, with refined details in robust materials and to develop architecture that resonates with Glasgow’s industrial heritage – without being pastiche or crude.”

Professor Tom Inns, director of the GSA, said the designs are aimed at meeting the specific needs of fine art internally while also paying “tribute to Glasgow’s industrial heritage externally”.

He added: “The Stow Building has been a distinctive part of Glasgow’s educational landscape for over 80 years.”

Scott Mackenzie, chair of BDP and the project’s principle architect, added: “This project not only brings new life to a cherished Glasgow landmark, but also provides the School of Fine Art with inspirational and truly world class teaching and learning spaces.”

The refurbished ground floor will include specialist workshops in spaces that had historically been used for technical education including boiler making, foundry work and vehicle building, alongside newly created studios.

The next four floors will offer studio space for undergraduate and post-graduate fine art students and academic offices.

The Stow College building was sold as part of an education shake up in the city - Glasgow Kelvin College was formed after the merger of John Wheatley, North Glasgow and Stow Colleges as part of a Scotland-wide programme of re-organisation.