FROM THE EXTERIOR TO THE INTERIOR

EQUALLY GENEROUS: AN EPILOGUE

In conversation with Architect / Interior Designer, Marco Emilio di Mario develop an interest in fashion, in the industry and that culture. Of course, one of the main places where all of that happens is Milan, and that is where I ended up moving to and then getting into Interior Design.

Marco Emilio di Mario: qualified as an Architect (trained at the Mack) now works as an Interior Designer and teaches at the Glasgow School of Art s School of Interior Design.

Marco has an in-depth level of work experience for someone of his age, spanning three different countries: Scotland (Glasgow), England (London) and Italy (Rome and Milan). Within the Creative Allies context of MACMAG 48, Marco has worked within various interlinked sectors including Architecture, Interior Design, Theatre Set Design and marketing cosmetics. He has also worked in a freelance capacity for private clients.

MACMAG: Hi Marco, could you tell us a little bit about yourself?

Marco Emilio di Mario): I am Italian-Scottish and grew up in Glasgow. My family are all from Rome and I studied at GSA for five years. I did my Part 1, worked in practice for a couple of years and then came back to GSA to do Part 2. After graduating, I moved into a variety of different things and ended up focusing on Interior Design as my main career path, and that's what I have been doing for the last 10 or 11 years. I returned to GSA four months ago to undertake a position as a tutor.

MM: Could you tell us about your process of transitioning from one role to another?

MEM: It was quite natural. A lot of the time it was purely circumstantial that I ended up working on projects in those fields. I think that modelling part time for quite a number of years, whilst studying, ended up being quite influential in the path that I took. It really helped me to

In terms of the freelance work, whether that has been theatre set design or marketing for cosmetic companies, that was also quite natural because the education I received at GSA taught me to be very versatile, and taught me a wide range of skills, which I was able to then apply in various contexts. With the type of work that I was doing at The Mackintosh School of Architecture for my fourth and fifth year projects, there was a big focus on imagery and telling the story of your projects. With that you become very proficient in programmes like Photoshop, InDesign and Illustrator. These can then be used and applied to other sectors, which is how I ended up doing some work with Cult Beauty many years ago, working with their marketing team to prepare images for the relaunch of their website.

MM: What influence, if any, did studying Architecture have on your career? In particular at GSA?

MEM: I would say that GSA, as a school, prepares you for that kind of versatility. I remember thinking that at the time. Sometimes the review formats, that GSA is quite well known for, could be really brutal, but looking back now, it really made me realise that it was preparing me for going out into the real world. I think whenever you are educated in that way and when there is a big focus on you presenting your work and standing there as people either praise it or tear it to shreds makes you tough. It makes you prepared to go out there and deal with different types of situations. I think that is one of the most valuable things that I learned at the Mack because it allows you to sell yourself; not just in architecture, but in various other related fields.

MM: You mentioned working in Italy. What were the differences in work culture in the different countries you’ve worked in?

MEM: The working culture in Italy is very different, in some ways for the better, in many ways, its worse. I think that what has been really interesting for me is to really experience the “made in Italy” culture. We collaborate with so many artisans and smaller skill manufacturers and carpenters that still work with their hands, and have been working in that way for hundreds of years. Whereas, in countries like the UK, Ireland, Scotland, and the US because of the economic changes that have taken place in these countries over the last 50 years many of these skills have died out.

MM: So, you are saying there was more focus on traditional skills over production linestradition versus industry?

MEM: Exactly, I think that there is a sort of mass production of many components now in interior design and architecture as well. It is quite prevalent in northern European countries and in the US. I feel as though in Italy it is something that we have managed to keep at bay, and we do focus on the traditional craftsman artisan way of working. I would argue that it leads to a much stronger collaborative team. I think it is something that is still very much in demand from clients, hence why we are commissioned to work all over the world.

MM: Having been to Italy a few times, it is something that you feel within the culture itself. The idea of things being done a certain way and respecting that tradition. Would you say that you have found that Italy has more of a collaborative mindset than you have seen in the UK?

MEM: Not necessarily a more collaborative mindset but I think it is a more collaborative process. In my experience working with English clients, people are very much in their roles. They are not willing to step out of that role, whereas I think in Italy because of the way in which we develop a project, we require the collaboration and input from the carpenters, the artisans, the lighting designer, or even the 80 year old furniture restorer. We recognise their value, and that is why it becomes a team effort. We are obviously in charge of the concept, but we need these skilled workers and artisans to help realise our concept for us. I think that in the UK there is maybe less crossover and the rules are very defined. I would argue people are maybe a bit afraid to step outside of that.

MM: Was it difficult to transition back to working in the UK?

MEM: Well it has been four months, so it has been fairly recent. Obviously I am in Glasgow and in a teaching capacity for the moment. Myself and my business partner launched our own studio last year, called House of Belvedere. We have a couple of projects in London, but again we are following that same format. We are using an Italian millworker, we are sourcing a lot of our pieces in Italy and it is really about us bringing that “made in Italy” brand to other parts of the world.

In terms of the transition, it has been fine. I have been really enjoying working here again over the last couple of months. One thing I will say about Northern Europe, in a working context, is the efficiency. It is fantastic compared to other southern European countries, the efficiency is really great here. I feel as though there is a lack of excess bureaucracy here, which in Italy can sometimes hinder projects and really slows things down, and so that has been a quite enjoyable aspect of working here again. Things just seem to be done a lot more quickly.

MM: How would you say your range of experiences in modelling and designing have influenced you as a designer, as a teacher or even as a person?

MEM: I think that my design style is quite eclectic, which might be a reflection of having had quite an eclectic career over the last 10 or 11 years. It has given me a stamina and an ability to work with clients and sites all over the world and to deal with difficult situations because I have moved around and learned a lot over the last decade. It has influenced me, making me quite a strong character, and I think a lot of people that are close to me would describe me like that as well. I am not the kind of person that gives up or throws the towel in.

MM: Would you say it is also a self-confidence thing as well, that you know you can do it because of your experience?

MEM: Yes, but again I would have to thank GSA for having taught me about selling yourself and really standing up for your design and for the work that you are putting up on the wall. Something that I have been really urging my Master of Interior Design students to do is to really get involved in the review process, not to just sit there staring at the floor when their colleagues are presenting their work because the studios are a safe space. You know you are not going to get fired from your degree or find yourself in a really difficult situation, so I think in that sense I really urge all of them to use that process, and to do so in this space as it is a really great opportunity to hone these skills, to become a good communicator and to become good at selling your concept, your brand and your design.

MM: Was it ever your plan to be working in education, in particular in interior design?

MEM: I was keen to pursue the path of interior design because I feel as though some of the creativity from architecture is becoming lost. Architects now have got so many different stipulations that they have to follow that there is less creative control over a project. Some of those restrictions do exist in Interior Design but I do not feel as though it is to as great an extent. I feel as though you have got much more creative freedom working in the world of Interior Design as opposed to Architecture.

I ended up teaching in Interior Design rather than in an Architecture school because I very much identify as being an Interior Designer now, rather than being an architect. Whilst I did my five years of architecture at GSA, it has not been my job title over the last number of years, so this is very much the profession I identify with. I would not ever rule out working in an architecture school because I think that there is a lot of crossover. One thing that I would be keen to see would be more collaboration between Interior Design and Architecture students in various schools. I know there has been some collaboration at GSA in the past.

MM: How does it feel coming back to GSA after 11 years?

MEM: It has been very different, the building that we are sitting in now did not exist. Obviously, the fire in the Mackintosh building was major. In subsequent visits after the fire, I did not ever come anywhere near Garnethill because I could not bear to even walk past it. On my first day here in a tutoring capacity, I was being given a tour around the Reid Building. Having avoided seeing the kind of charred, blackened scaffolding covered remains I was suddenly been led through the building, and having it right in my face.

In some respects I think it feels a bit like a homecoming. I started at GSA when I was only 17 years old, so I did a lot of my growing up in this school. It has been a really positive experience so far.

I have been really enjoying it.

MM: Our edition is titled “Creative Allies”, in your opinion, do you think architecture is becoming more interdisciplinary?

MEM: That is quite a tough one to answer. In certain situations, I would say no - in others I would say yes. That is purely based on my career experience so far. Within a lot of our projects, especially the ones that we undertook abroad, we would have a local architect in place that would oversee the site when we could not be there, and some of these local architects would also have their own design practices with their own concepts, proposals and their own visions. In that sense I would say yes, it is becoming more interdisciplinary, the architects that I have been in contact with and worked with over the years have got this kind of vision of their own studio I suppose, but then also have the project management side of things that they would do on our behalf. So, in that context I would say yes.

MM: Then would you say that Interior Design is becoming more interdisciplinary in comparison?

MEM: I would say that Interior Design has become more interdisciplinary compared to architecture, and the reason that I am saying that is because I think within Interior Design you have now got a whole host of different genres. I am aware that obviously certain architects will also design certain typologies of buildings but I think Interior Design is being pushed more into embracing technology, social media, and virtual reality in a way that architecture is not. Because of that, we need to be more on our toes in order to satisfy. This is purely my experience, but I think that clients of architecture would not really expect to put on a VR headset and go for a tour around their building, I may be wrong about that. Whereas, increasingly with Interior Design clients they want to put on a VR headset and walk around what is going to be their brand's boutique, hotel, restaurant or home.

MM: Would you say the new technologies such as VR and renderings, that are getting better, are pushing people to be more creative? Do you think technology is a tool towards more creative practice?

MEM: I would argue that it is actually going to hinder creativity because I think the expectation from clients now is moving more and more towards a photographic type render. That is what they expect. Designers might be less daring, because it could be more important to have the photographic render which the client expects, as opposed to a client seeing a rendering and going: “what on earth is that?”

One thing that I really advocate, and I am a bit of an old soul and a bit old fashioned, but I really advocate the use of more traditional methods. With any projects that I am doing we still work a lot of the time using watercolours, which I think is a really important tool. I think that with watercolour you are not going to have the realism necessarily of a render, but you are going to have the atmosphere and soul which you might not necessarily have otherwise. I also believe that it gives you more creative license when looking at the design of a space or of a building for that matter as well.

MM: What advice would you give to students that are doing architecture or another course that doesn’t necessarily fulfil enough of their creative purpose in practice?

MEM: Especially in the last couple of years of my education, and I think I speak for everybody when I say at times, as we all do, you can feel a bit disillusioned from a process. I think with architecture education in particular, it is a long process and a lot of the time you can really doubt whether or not you are doing the right thing. Ultimately my advice to my younger self and to anybody that is at that point in their education, is to persevere and to really embrace the aspects of the education at the Glasgow School of Art. Things like the studio culture, the review culture as well, they are so important because they teach you life skills that are invaluable whenever you are out there working in practice and because it is a creative degree, I think you are able to use those skills and apply them in a whole host of different situations Even if you do not graduate and go into a studio, because a lot of people including myself, do not go down that path, you can still end up with some really interesting experiences that you might not have imagined having at the start of your study.

MM: As you have experienced the school from both a student and staff perspective, do you think that there is enough exchange or alliances being formed within GSA as an art school and in particular, between the art and the architecture students?

MEM: It is one thing that I would like to see more of, especially across the different schools. The biggest difference that I have noticed in the School of Design is that it is really fantastic for these cross collaborations. I have only been here for four months and I have already seen the School of Design organise workshops with people in practice, with developers that are undertaking major projects in Central Glasgow. So many of the electives and workshops are attended by not only interior design students, but students from fashion, textiles and silversmithing.

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Cooper Cromar has a long history and deep respect for the Mackintosh School of Architecture as many of our staff including Directors Graham Forsyth and Steven Carroll are former graduates.

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Finding meaningful architectural expression which harnesses anticipated change is one of the most creative challenges of any urban architecture, one which is truly relevant to the planet, place, purpose and people. The final year of architectural education is a chance to determine for the students as to what constitutes an Ethical City.

Glasgow offers a rich political, economic, historical, cultural and environmental framework from which to examine its International and metropolitan relationships as well as the everyday life of the city.

Implicit in the Design Thesis lies the evidencing of its impact on the urban environment. The form it takes, the spaces it creates and the character it assumes are to be critically informed by the geographic, topographic and climatic situations as well as the prevailing cultural, political, economic and social circumstances previously noted. Through a city investigation task at the start of the academic year, the students sifted through these complexities in the search and the opening up of architecturally related opportunities within the fabric of Glasgow.

The Design Thesis is a self- directed piece of work and provides an opportunity to define an individual ethical standpoint and to pursue and find expression for personal architectural interests and preoccupations. Students are expected to regularly bring together an iterative series of exploratory drawings, models and digital representations that objectively test the relative value of an architectural idea from a critical standpoint.

The resultant Design Thesis are intellectually adventurous, imaginative, intrinsically compelling and thought provoking. They each offer some form of commentary which expands upon aspects of contemporary architectural theory and debate, and, of course, issues of ethics in design.

The academic year was about Glasgow's future, and the future of the people who live here. What does the city need, what do people need from their city, how ought the future to be?

Climate change is happening. Glasgow needs to act. As architects, we need to act. What can we offer? What can the architect and urbanist bring to the table? What are our solutions?

Remnants of a Vernacular CHARLES DUNN

Taking existing patterns of both urban and cognitive fragmentation, the thesis seeks to repackage these in a newly conceived architectural proposition; instead considering industrial infrastructure and the non place as artefacts within the city – the non place becomes a place with the ability to evoke and engage.

The architectural approach takes phenomenology and the poetic image as a starting point to engage with both the intimate and collective memory within the city while also interrogating this in its current form.

The thesis proposes an architecture which works to engage with the distinct tectonics of the landscape, spatial qualities of the River Kelvin and character of those remaining remnants in order to engage with both the intimate and collective poetic image, thus creating a repository of collective memory in the city.

The proposition of a hybrid typology; a museum of industry with a direct air capture plant, seeks to reshape our conception of production and industry and instead present an architectural offering which is to be celebrated and which demonstrates a thriving urban coexistence with productive, functional architecture.

A locus within the city, the museum sits at the intersection of numerous key routes while exploiting the polarity of a striking vertical landscape, both natural and built. Mindful of this, the architecture references the spatial conditions present along the river; exploring notions of constraint, enclosure, expanse and threshold to construct an interior landscape and tectonic approach which speaks of the environment it finds itself in, punctuating the visitor experience.

Nature and human society are generally regarded as separate entities. We sit in a manmade room and look at a photo of nature that is somewhere else. We take a walk into nature, and ‘leave the manmade behind’, even if that walk is through a reservoir or park. But nature is not independent from us, and the notion that we are absolves us from our responsibility of the current climate crisis. This project seeks to navigate this ‘post-natural world and explore the spatial and visual conventions through which we relate to nature.

This project seeks to “explode” the program of the museum out and so draw the visitor out into the lanwdscape to experience it more directly. The brick for the proposal is taken from the existing museum (the old hydroelectric power station) which is very large and mostly unused.

'Let Water Flourish' ERYN

McQUILLAN

The design for a Museum of the Clyde challenges how Glasgow, a city shaped in many ways by the river, accommodates water in the built environment and the existing dichotomy between wet and dry landscapes.

Contemporary architecture often battles to keep water out, resisting the elements and time through hard, impermeable surfaces and “waterproofing”. In contrast, Scotland’s traditional architecture accepted the process of weathering, utilising porous materials and crafted weathering details.

Traditional detailing, exhibited in the collection of existing buildings retained for permanent museum collections, is used as a lens to reconsider contemporary relationships between water and the built environment.

Water in the form of both river and rainfall is celebrated through the design of the riverfront interventions which includes temporal gallery spaces, a sculpture garden and reinstated saltmarsh landscape. The river links old and new via an excavated canal running below the busy thoroughfare which currently disconnects the city from the Clyde.

The design emphasises the phenomenological experience of water in an urban context, highlighting the power that the weather and climate has on the built environment.

The thesis is a reflective statement about the approaches we take towards rising sea levels –is it pushing the water away like we always used to, or is it inviting water into cities, adapting and learning to live in coexistence with the future of wetness? Criticizing and reflecting on the current condition in which the rich pay to escape and build shelters, while the vulnerable are left to fight for themselves, the thesis speculates a new relationship with the rising water body, meandering through possibilities of using architecture as an expression of adaptation to the extreme consequences of climate change while simultaneously promoting equity by working to protect the most severely impacted communities in Glasgow. While it sets out practical design approaches, the thesis is not a technical manual but an ambition to change the way people perceive climate change, climate justice and to emphasize the urgency of taking actions to combat global warming now.

The project timeline is set in a hypothetical near-future scenario of 2050-2100. Drawing on climate change and climate inequalities, The Climate Apartheid – A Tale of Two Cities tells a cautionary tale of two cities divided by a wall which was erected by the historically wealthy communities residing on the northern banks of the river Clyde, to protect and keep themselves dry from the rising flood. The construction of the wall has led to a destructive flooding on the southern banks of the river which is home to the 10% most deprived communities of Glasgow.

Upon constructing the fortress of dryness, the rich continue to burn and pollute, carrying on with their old ways of trashing the earth looking down on the other side of the Wall. The flooded communities started an elevated layer of city network above water, an approach to discover a new relationship of coexisting with climate change, working with the resources that they had. Initially built as a protestant response to the erection of the wall, the floating city is an ever expanding and organically growing piece of fabric to counter-address the outcomes of climate inequality. It is an idea laboratory to encourage the shift from being consumers of water to become stewards of water.

What if we harnessed the extremeties of the weather and farmed it into resources? What if we realize a new relationship with water, using water as a healer, water as an equalizer, water as connection, water as religion, water as celebration? Water is an agent of transformation, of fluctuations. Water rejects lines – the edge of water is always gradation of moisture, rising and falling to the daily tidal rhythms.

The proposal seeks to embrace new ideas and technologies to transform our increasingly dense and climate-stressed cities to become both more resilient and more of an acceptable condition to live in.

The Tale of Two Cities explores the ambiguity of every day life between living behind the Wall on dry protected land versus the precariousness of living on the floating grid. The project uses water as a patching, healing and connecting tool between dry and wet, ground and river, and attempts to reimage the fluid margin of the city where sociological density meets hydrological intensity. Portrayed through a progression of futuristic timeline, the Two Cities undergo degradation, adaptation and finally rebirth, as the beginnings of the new hydro-age Glasgow. How can Glasgow utilise the extreme weather conditions and use it to its advantage, to channel it into fuelling a utopian city in a dystopian future?

KARLIS KUKAINIS

Supported by the research on the superior environmental benefits of quality reuse this thesis explores a renovation strategy of a problematic and vacant mid-20th century building estate of Yorkhill Hospital in Glasgow through testing the limits of different reuse practices of reclaimed materials from demolished modern buildings nearby. It addresses numerous issues faced by many similar estates around Europe – the high cost of renovation and maintenance, unpopularity and tainted collective memory, inefficient floor planning not fitting contemporary requirements, unattractive aesthetics, secluded urban placemaking, poor detailing and energy efficiency. Careful programming is used to explore creative reuse methods on 2 scales – large commercial and community use redevelopment models. Reuse and preservation methods of the catalogued reclaimed materials are utilized to inform the building’s programme as well as the architecture itself by proposing a 20thcentury heritage and reuse institute (‘‘Landfill’’), public workshop, affordable rent studios and commercial spaces and an innovation centre.

The proposal seeks to foster reuse practices in Glasgow and Scotland and becomes an architectural manifestation of reuse itself by embracing imperfect materials over immaculate surfaces and challenging the public s view of decay as a sign of sustainability through longevity. The institute explores larger-scale reuse practices for a commercial setting, while the smaller community use proposal explores a less profitable, but more accessible long-term scenario. It involves local communities to promote the reuse of 20thcentury heritage, bringing awareness of the environmental benefits of high-quality renovation and creating an exemplary long-term sustainable ownership model for other problematic vacant buildings.

Exploitation of the Earth and the environment has occurred since humans first walked the Earth and are now at levels never before seen. The adverse affects of these goals is the damage on the environment, and the removal of humans from planetary systems which is threatening the species and systems in place as well as our presence on the Earth. A massive upheaval in the collective understanding of our connection with the Earth is needed in order to reverse the damage created by humans on the world. Architecture has its role to play in this reversal, as not only one of the biggest contributors to global emissions, but also changing perceptions of life within the environment.

The aim is to create a way of doing architecture which challenges the current anthropocentric view, to focus on the environment as a finite entity and a system of relationships. This way of making architecture is predicated on aims of gentle, caring and conscientious construction, and an architecture that focuses on the needs of animals, flora and fauna, and humans in a connected balance. An architecture that is open to the variations of seasons and climate, of the night and day transitions, of the relationship with the ground and the intricate systems of soils, roots and ecology, of the sky, clouds and all natural phenomena.

The project hopes to expand what architecture means and achieves. A line of trees, rows of stone walls, enclosed spaces for non-human activities, growing spaces for trees and plants, and buildings for human inhabitation are all treated as equal in an Earthly Architecture.