Steven Holl reflects on winning the Glasgow School of Art Competition

Why did you enter the GSA competition in the first place?
The Glasgow School of Art is one of the most important works of architecture in the 20th century. Of course when we heard about the competition we did not hesitate to send our portfolio to be considered for the final competition list.

How important is context to your architecture – do you feel that your building should recognize Mackintosh's building or dominate it?
The book "Anchoring", published in 1988 by Princeton Architectural Press is still in print. In this book I argue for a "universal in the specific" – a point of departure which begins in a particular site, circumstance and program. It is my opinion that this might be different from the "contextualism" of the postmodern argument, however the unique condition of a place is the philosophical beginning of a project.

Glasgow is such a dark and broody place yet your entry is so full of ideas about light. Is there enough intensity at this latitude for the ideas to work?
Regarding the importance of light, we envision the artificial light in the project to be as important as the natural light. We envision a glowing, inspiring place to work; a place that is very inviting on a grey dark November afternoon. A rainy grey brooding atmosphere is given a different light in our 1997 Chapel of St. Ignatius, on the Seattle University Campus, which is a special place in winter. 

Working globally is clearly not a problem for you and you seem to have buildings in every continent. How do you establish a common standard of quality and execution?
Each of our buildings is different. We chose materials in the spirit of the concept and the place. Our details for each project are developed in respect to the local craft and construction skills. Currently we are building a museum in Biarritz, France – "Cite de l'Ocean et du Surf" which is being realized in white concrete particular to the matrix there and according to the contractors special casting ability. In Hamarøy, Norway we built in blackened wood the Knut Hamsun Center which opened on August 4, 2009. Each project has its own spirit.

In your experience of competitions, how did the GSA compare?
We feel that the GSA was a very well run competition. I had the very special experience of receiving the informing phone call while in the middle of the celebration events of the opening party of the Herning Museum of Contemporary Art in Denmark on September 7, 2009 – a wonderful coincidence of events!

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