Andy MacMillan and Isi Metzstein, formerly of architecture practice Gillespie Kidd and Coia, are to be awarded honorary degrees conferred by the University of Glasgow on behalf of The Glasgow School of Art.
Andy MacMillan and Isi Metzstein have been chosen by The Glasgow School of Art to receive honorary degrees this year for their impact on Scottish architectural culture, their considerable academic involvement at The Glasgow School of Art and the revival of interest in their work following the exhibition Gillespie Kidd and Coia: Architecture 1956 - 1987 at The Lighthouse, Scotland's centre for Architecture and Design.
Professor Seona Reid, Director of The Glasgow School of Art, said: "I am really delighted to announce Andy MacMillan and Isi Metzstein as recipients of honorary degrees conferred by the University of Glasgow on behalf of The Glasgow School of Art.
"I cannot think of any architects living in Scotland today who have had more influence on both architectural design and architectural education than Andy and Isi. They brought to post war Britain a fresh, new architectural language, establishing Gillespie Kidd and Coia as one of the 20th century's leading architectural practices, as witnessed at the recent exhibition at the Lighthouse.
"But Andy and Isi also inspired generations of young architects through their involvement in architecture education. Both taught at Glasgow School of Art, Andy serving as Head of The Mackintosh School of Architecture for eighteen years until 1994 and in 2001 in an act of great generosity they gifted the extraordinary Gillespie Kidd and Coia archive to The Glasgow School of Art. These honorary degrees are in recognition of all they have done and given."
During their time at Gillespie Kidd and Coia, Andy MacMillan and Isi Metzstein designed many celebrated buildings including Our Lady of Good Counsel church in Dennistoun and Cardross seminary in Helensburgh, which was voted by architects in Prospect magazine as the most significant piece of post war architecture in Scotland.
In 1969, Andy MacMillan and Isi Metzstein received the Royal Gold Medal for Architecture of the RIBA, awarded by the Queen to the most significant architects in the world at that time. The award placed them alongside Le Corbusier, Frank Gehry, Rem Koolhaas and Frank Lloyd Wright.
Their work and significance is now being considered by a new generation and this culminated in last year's exhibition Gillespie Kidd and Coia: Architecture 1956 -1987 at The Lighthouse, Scotland's centre for Architecture and Design. The exhibition, curated by Mark Baines from the Mackintosh School of Architecture at The Glasgow School of Art, was one of the most popular exhibitions at the venue in recent years.
The honorary degrees, which will be conferred by the University of Glasgow on behalf of The Glasgow School of Art, will be presented to Andy MacMillan and Isi Metzstein at a ceremony in Bute Hall, University of Glasgow on Friday 20th June.
Photo Credits: McAteer Photograph