Glasgow Public Buildings

The Scottish Exhibition and Conference Center
Clydebank

A sad and savage victim of European bureaucratic architectural brutalism, the SECC looks good when photographed from the south bank of the Clyde, but is about as unfriendly to humans as any public building I have ever been in. Full of corridors that dead end without warning, signage that excels at creating confusion as the primary experience of place, and a hard surface to sound ratio that must be heard to be believed. Some sections of this structure cannot be accessed from other sections without first exiting the building, walking through mud filled parking areas and re-entering, often on a different level, to reach a room purportedly on the same level one had just left. An amazingly ill designed bit of European Union Redevelopment Folly.

Glasgow Central Station

A wonderful industrial Victorian space filled with art noveau metalwork and a vivid sense of place and time.

Glasgow University
Hillhead

The beautiful and moving Victorian main building sits amid a great green just west of Kelvingrove.

Glasgow Science Center
Clydebank

This museum to the love of science is full of great hands-on activities that give children of all ages delight. The wonderful great curves of the exterior contain a wonderfully functional interior.

Opposite the SECC on the banks of the Clyde, it is also opposite the SECC in its success as a public building. This is the very essence of what a public space should be.

Glasgow Cathedral

Another marvelous Glaswegian stone structure.