October 17 2016

Elder & Cannon Architects have drafter plans for a 12 storey student tower constituting 308 bed spaces at New City Road, Glasgow, on behalf of Bankell Developments.Situated over the road from Glasgow School of Art’s soon to be delivered School of Fine Art the brick build will punctuate a key sightline along the Great Western Road corridor as it is bisected by an elevated section of the M8 motorway through Cowcaddens.Adopting a triangular floorplate the scheme will incorporate a security controlled lane and courtyard between Phoenix Road and New City Road which doubles as a principal entrance space with ground floor devoted to amenity and social spaces.Outlining their proposal the architects wrote: “The ground floor of the building is given over entirely to the active social spaces and management facilities and is enhanced by the generous provision of a double height common hall along the majority of the North elevation, overlooked by gallery desks and mezzanine spaces, providing complexity and richness of spatial organisation. This grand hall, related social spaces and double height entrance reception afford an open and democratic transparency to the full length of the New City Road elevation, with full height glazed curtain walling set back behind a high quality cast stone colonnade.”In an effort to tame the hostile local environment the building will be afforded a sense of scale in a bid to anchor it within a fragmented landscape of scrappy green space, disjointed housing and chaotic road network, with a top floor roof terrace also on offer to students.