Joshua Davey

Glasgow is losing its soul. As the CCA liquidates and The Lighthouse faces privatisation, the third spaces that connect us are vanishing. Life has shifted to screens, leaving us physically isolated. This building is a rebuttal. It provides a home for the GIA, GBPT, and URN, but its true purpose is to reclaim the city for face-to-face debate and social friction.

The site is dark and overshadowed. Drawing inspiration from Glasgow’s neon lit lanes, two Polycarbonate luminous beacons pierce the dark Union Place and Mitchell Street. They turn the grey weather into a backdrop, signalling that this is a permanent place of refuge.

The project is anchored by two rooms. On the ground floor, the Glasgow Room acts as a porous shortcut, pulling the street life inside. On the third floor, the Urban Living Room, a concept championed by Jane Jacobs, flips the typical city building hierarchy. Usually, the higher you go, the more private a building becomes. This project puts its most important public space at the top instead. It is a rare, high-level sanctuary that works like a domestic living room but at the scale of the city centre.

Inside, the building acts as a lens. Large openings frame the Lighthouse, the grit of Mitchell Lane, and the long view up Mitchell Street to the hills. It is a building that watches the city as much as the city watches it.