GLASGOW.- The Glasgow School of Art ‘s international search to find a team to design a new 11250 square metre building to sit opposite the iconic Mackintosh Building in Garnethill, Glasgow has drawn 152 entries, with 58 received from outside the UK including the US, Japan, Australia, Spain, Finland, Denmark and the Netherlands.

Among the applicants were 11 practices from Building Design’s World Architecture Top 100, a large number previously shortlisted for the Stirling Prize and three Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureates. The competition, which is being managed by Malcolm Reading Consultants, received nearly 57,000 visits to its website over the six week period since being announced and the Expression of Interest document was downloaded over 11,000 times. The first stage of the competition is now closed and the jury will now assess all entries before announcing on May 22nd the shortlist of up to seven practices. The team which is finally selected will be revealed in September.

The panel judging the competition will be chaired by David Mackay of MBM Arquitectes, with broadcaster and writer Muriel Gray as Deputy Chair. Other recently appointed members of the eight person strong jury are: Professor Christine Hawley, architect and Dean of the Bartlett , University College London; architect and educator, Professor Isi Metstein; GSA Board Member and Chair of the Estates Committee, Fred Shedden; Director of GSA Professor Seona Reid; GSA Board Member, economist and town planner Eleanor McAlister; and Head of the GSA Mackintosh School of Architecture Professor David Porter.

The whole purpose of the exercise is to appoint a world-class architect-led team of designers who can demonstrate that they have the skills, experience, imagination and sensitivity to the School's needs to deliver the project successfully and within the available budget. The School is not looking for a building design at this stage.

The shortlisted practices will develop their thinking over the next two months before a final submission at the end of July 2009. The winning architect-led design team will be announced in late September.

The successful team will then work with the GSA to confirm the overall campus masterplan and to design and deliver the Phase 1 building.

Phase 1 , set to open in 2013, sees the start of the complete redevelopment, over time, of the School’s estate, transforming the current incoherent and inefficient scatter of unfit for purpose buildings across Garnethill, into a coherent urban campus providing world-class teaching and research facilities and space for growth. When complete, the redeveloped estate will reinforce the GSA’s position as one of Europe’s leading art, design and architecture schools, supporting the creative entrepreneurs of tomorrow and ensuring that Glasgow maintains its position as one of Europe’s most creative cities.

With the highest design and sustainability values, the new Phase 1 building will be an important development in one of Glasgow’s most interesting and diverse conservation areas significantly enhancing the setting for the Grade A listed Mackintosh Building opposite.

The estate redevelopment will be financed through a combination of Scottish Funding Council (SFC) support, School cash balances, land sales, borrowing and philanthropic sources. SFC support for Phase 1 is based on its approval of the outline business case in January and is conditional on approval of the full business case at Design Stage D.