There has been much hand-wringing about the tragic loss of Charles Rennie Mackintosh's Glasgow School of Art. The fire that recently ripped through the building is a harsh reminder of the fragility of our built heritage. It seems to have been almost unthinkable to most commentators that this could have happened. However, maritime historians are no strangers to the loss of architectural splendour and have reacted in a much more sanguine fashion. Mackintosh, unlike many architects of his time did not design any interiors for the liners that were being built in their multitude on the Clyde, but if he had, they would have long since been consigned to the scrapyard or to the bottom of the sea. Both Queen Elizabeth and Normandie were similarly consumed by fire and then sank, and of course there is always Titanic. And Lusitania. And countless others that have met a similar fate.
Naval architecture, unlike terranean architecture, is inherently temporary. Even when disasters, either natural or man-made, do not take their toll on ships, the breaker's yard will almost inevitably have them. This is a far more fitting end to a floating style icon than to have it gently rotting away and becoming an eyesore like United States. Breakers’ yards are a much under-rated part of our maritime heritage. Much-loved liners like Aquitania and Mauretania are rightly remembered and celebrated for their elegance in their prime rather than as what they might have become had they been preserved as museum pieces. Preservation in perpetuity is a completely unnatural state for a ship, but that does not stop people trying. With the right vessel in the right context it is absolutely the right thing to do, but this practice is not without controversy.
The issue of preservation versus restoration has been disputed since Classical times, with the ship of Theseus being the maritime equivalent of George Washington's axe. News that the Glasgow School of Art is to be rebuilt in its entirety will no doubt elicit the same level of debate over authenticity that will be familiar in relation to HMS Victory, USS Constitution and Cutty Sark Exactly what percentage of original material will be present in the rebuilt building? In a way it does not really matter as, in common with these ships, it will be the aura as much as the physical entity that is preserved.
There are numerous examples from maritime history that can provide a parallel to what is being proposed for the art school. The most obvious is Great Britain, which has had its interior lovingly re-created to sit within the preserved original hull. However, if the Mackintosh building is to continue its teaching function, rather than just becoming a museum, a better example might be one of those preserved vessels that continues to sail the seas that have been adapted to comply with modern access and safety regulations. In that way a functioning building can be created that will still allow people to have an experience similar to that of its original users, but also hopefully one that will not burn or sink.