A NEW £50 million building at Glasgow School of Art is to be named after its director of the past 14 years, Professor Seona Reid.
Officials said the Seona Reid Building, on Glasgow's Renfrew Street, would stand as a testament to her "vision and commitment" after she retires this summer.
"Without Seona Reid's vision and commitment it would not have been possible to commission the astonishing building which is currently taking shape in Garnethill," said Philip Rodney, chair of the governors of the GSA.
"It is a testament to her unfailing dedication that the GSA will now have a new, state of the art building to complement Charles Rennie Mackintosh's Art School."
The building has been designed by one of the world's leading architects, Steven Holl, who also welcomed the new name.
"We hope the educational spaces we realised together will inspire many future students," he said.
Professor Reid added: "I cannot think of any more special way of marking my time at GSA than having such an important and beautifully designed building called the Seona Reid Building. I feel incredibly honoured."
The new building houses design school studios and offices, technical workshops and digital media labs, lecture facilities, communal staff and student areas, exhibition spaces, and a new Mackintosh interpretation centre.
The site also includes a refurbishment of the GSA Student's Union, affectionately known as "the Vic".
The Seona Reid Building is the first element of the GSA's wider estates strategy, which will see its currently scattered, inefficient and predominantly unfit-for-purpose campus consolidated along Renfrew Street and which – when complete – will provide the facilities and quality of campus environment needed for creative education and research in the visual disciplines in the 21st century.
The Phase 1 building is set to open in the 2013/14 academic year. The Scottish Funding Council has committed funding up to £50 million towards the Phase 1 building.
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