FOR the first time since the disastrous blaze that destroyed Charles Rennie Mackintosh's famous art school library, it can be seen standing again.
The Glasgow School of Art (GSA), in what it is describing as a "hugely significant step" in the full restoration of the library, has unveiled a full-size prototype of a restored section, replicating its original 1910 design.
Standing incongruously in the cavernous workshop of its creators, the Edinburgh-based specialist carpenters Laurence McIntosh, the section - two floors, with Mackintosh's detailed decoration painstakingly reproduced - has taken six months to build.
The process of rebuilding the section - made from American Tulipwood - has taken six months, and has been used to test, investigate and study Mackintosh's designs ahead of the room's full restoration next year.
The Tulipwood finish is notably a lighter colour than the library was before its destruction in the art school fire - but its builders, and the GSA, are confident the hue is as close to the 1910 version of the room as is possible.
Both the wood involved in the full scale model, and its many steel nails - identical to the nails used in 1909 - have been imported from the US.
The future of the prototype is currently unclear, but Professor Tom Inns, director of the GSA, said its unveiling was "a fantastic day for us, and a moving one as well."
The rebuilding of the section involved intense study of Mackintosh’s original designs, early photography, letters and other documentation.
These include the fortuitous existence of an artist's plaster molds of the room's balcony pendants - complex designs which were lost entirely in the fire.
The prototype was a key part of testing Laurence McIntosh's reconstruction, and the Edinburhg company will now manufacture the library, with installation expected in spring of next year.
At the Mackintosh Building, the temporary roof has been removed and a new roof completed, and the work to reconstruct the Hen Run is under way.
Professor Inns added: "From the outset we said that we would restore the building and restore it well.
"The creation of this prototype which are unveiling today is underpinned by two years of ground-breaking and hugely detailed research ranging from information discovered in the archaeological survey to Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s original designs and paperwork and meticulous designs of every element/profile/joint with, sometimes to 0.5 millimetre accuracy, which were created by our design team and then incorporated into a comprehensive set of drawings for the specialist carpenters to work from."
He added: "Months of testing and retesting of all aspects of the design and manufacture by Laurence McIntosh working in close partnership with our design team lead [architects] Page\Park have culminated in this final prototype."
Professor Inns said that one of the first discoveries made after the fire was that the library was made from Tulipwood.
The library's wood had then been treated with an oil-based paint and polished with beeswax: for the recreation, several experiments were made to copy the hue.
Natalia Burakowska, of Page \ Page architects, said: "We soon realised that precious charred timbers had a considerable amount of information to reveal.
"We were excited to learn about timber joints, nailing techniques, timber sizes, and clever assembly strategies adopted by craftsmen working on site."
David Macdonald, of Laurence McIntosh, said: "From tulipwood blanks we have seen the prototype emerging slowly through months of careful carving and re-carving, colouring and re-colouring.
"Fascinatingly, on occasion this has meant not so much a refining of the design so much as making something which was too perfect slightly rougher and more in synergy with the original craftsmen’s’ work.
"We are now looking forward to taking all that we have learned in the development of the prototype and applying it to the library proper.”
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