The Glasgow Institute of Architects, as Trustees of the Alexander ‘Greek’ Thomson Scholarship, are pleased to announce the launch of the Alexander Thomson scholarship 2021, Narratives of Isolation.
The ongoing pandemic has opened avenues of thinking and reflection on the relationship between humans and the spaces they inhabit, with the extensive transformation of the built environment as a result of restrictions. In 2020, we saw our cities turn into hollow and desolate spaces, whilst our balconies, rooms and gardens took on the role of spaces of interaction and activity. From drone footage of empty streets to social media videos of neighbours socialising through their balconies at safe distances, humans have manipulated architecture in order for it to serve a new way of life. This has in turn created new, personal narratives of how we, as users, have adapted our environment to satisfy our developing needs.
Alexander ‘Greek’ Thomson himself faced similar circumstances during the global cholera pandemic between the 1840s and 1860s. The architect experienced bereavement following the tragic loss of four of his young children to the infection. During that time, one of the major risk factors associated with the spread of cholera was poor sanitation, making the conditions of the built environment a facilitator of the pandemic. In response to these devastating losses, in 1868, Thomson presented a proposal for the improvement of living conditions within Glasgow, through the introduction of a series of tenements with streets covered overhead with glass to provide children with clean and safe playgrounds.
