The new display for Michaelmas Term is now in place in the Library. We are celebrating the work of Gillespie,  Kidd and Coia

Introducing the Practice
“They are Modernists, yet their work is also a reaction against the dogmas of Modernism” From: Lessons in Architecture: Film & Multimedia Proposal, (Archive ref: RCRF/1/2/8)

Gillespie, Kidd and Coia are celebrated for their distinctive and innovative post-war architecture and contribution to European Modernism. Their work includes churches, school and college buildings, housing and hospitals. A large volume of their output was Scottish religious buildings; a reflection of their location away from the London architectural scene. Interestingly, they were involved in the early stages of a purpose-built holiday resort village and marina project - Craobh Haven in Argyll and Bute. Its construction, in 1983, involved the linking together of a group of islands using a system of stone causeways, but GKC were replaced before the construction stage was reached.

One of the outstanding features of the Robinson Library is the play of light and shadow, achieved through the modulation of light by the vertical timber fins aligned with the glazing grid. This was a constant theme in their work, as Mark Baines notes:
“Light substantially characterises and memorably informs the buildings of Gillespie, Kidd and Coia by virtue of the often audacious, but invariably subtle exploitation and manipulation of its varied effects in the controlled revelation of form, space, texture and colour.”
 

The window configurations, however, go beyond the modulation of light to the staging and framing of interior and exterior views; a technique GKC referred to as ‘expressive fenestration.’
Despite their brilliance and promise of new possibilities many of the GKC designs are plagued by the problems of upkeep, most especially water ingress. Saul Metzstein, Isi’s son and Robinson College alumnus, cites St Peter’s Seminary and The Lawns Hall of Residence in Hull as “embryonic versions of Robinson College” as they are “formed by building around the edge of the site, enclosing and creating exterior spaces with a deliberate urbanising intention”. The ambitious vision at Robinson proved too complex a task for GKC to carry to completion, so Yorke Rosenberg & Mardell were brought in to finish the build. 
With the award of a Heritage Lottery Fund grant, in 2006, to The Lighthouse Centre for Scottish Design and Architecture and The Glasgow School of Art the work of the architectural practice was brought to a wider audience. The rationale for this increased exposure was expressed in Lessons in Architecture: Film & Multimedia Proposal as “conventional architectural histories either ignore GKC, or make overstated attempts to blend them into linear explanations of post-war British Modernism.” The grant enabled the GKC archive to be catalogued, conserved and made accessible to all. It also allowed funds for the production of a documentary film, an exhibition and monograph Gillespie, Kidd and Coia: Architecture 1956-1987. 
The leading architects at the firm were Isi Metzstein, 1928-2012, and Andy MacMillan 1928-2014.

Timeline

• 1830 James Salmon & Son is established, known for the planning of the   Glasgow suburbs of Dennistoun & Ibrox.
• 1891 John Gaff Gillespie is employed in 1891 and William Alexander Kidd in 1898.
• 1903 The practice is renamed Salmon & Son & Gillespie.
• 1915 Giacomo Antonio Coia joins the practice as an apprentice, two years after the departure of James Salmon
• 1927 Coia inherits the practice after the death of Gillespie and Kidd.
• 1945 Isi Metzstein, just 17 years old, is hired by Coia.
• 1954 Andy MacMillan joins the practice and by 1956 Isi & Andy have become the creative leaders.
• 1956-60 Coia designs his last notable work, St Charles’ Church in North Kelvinside.
• 1987 Closure of the firm with their archive was moved to The Glasgow School of Art, and officially gifted in 2005.

Head into the Robinson College Library to see the exhibition.