where are the spider man hooks to clean the glass ?

Clean the Glass? That seems a bit of a far fetched fantasy.
I think the phrase is "Style over substance".

Yes, WHERE ARE THE SPIDER HOOKS! THIS IS AN OUTRAGE!

BDP - did they just photocopy silverburn?

Yet another atrocity to grace the Glasgow cityscape produced by, yes, you guessed it, the modernist brigade.

What possesses these people to think this is good architecture? It's ugly. Soulless. Banal.

Isn't it funny how all the modern insertions into George square are erm, inferior to the stone built traditional architecture? Funny that.

I'm sure it will get a R.I.A.S award though. And I'm sure the architecture critics (other modernists) will praise its "light and transparency". However, the rest of us not named Stevie Wonder will call a spade a spade or in this case a monstrosity a monstrosity.

Did they forget the spider man hooks at silverburn too?

I think it's important that we have Silverburn checked for Peter Parker/Spiderman branded components.

We must get to the bottom of this.

In other news - sales of spiderman related goods/movies/posters etc. are slumping, are BDP to blame for this? I don't know, but I am worried.

Ah, Chantelle, god love ya.

Is this modernist? As in, the style of Gropius/MvdR et al?

Your observations, as ever are beautifully thought through and incredibly stimulating.

Ok, BDP's design may not be purely modernist, but Chantelle raises a valid question in regards to buildings in the George Sq area in the 'modern' era: Why is it that after 100 years of trying no building has been designed that is even remotely comparable to the efforts of C19th architects?

Ok, BDP's design may not be purely modernist, but Chantelle raises a valid question in regards to buildings in the George Sq area in the 'modern' era: Why is it that after 100 years of trying no building has been designed that is even remotely comparable to the efforts of C19th architects?

The architect who did the tesco metro on Maryhill road should sue.

I'd go as far as saying it isn't just George Square, it is the City as a whole. Have you ever looked at any 'Then & Now' books, there are barely any comparisons that look better "Now".
It wasn't just the buildings; the Victorians knew how to design a fully accessible, functional and pleasing cityscape - and that's saying something considering how much heavy industry was about.
If you then throw in the 'Modern Icons' such as the Riverside Museum and the SECC, sure they may be luring in their own right but they have been placed in a sea of nothingness, maroned in an ocean of tarmac as of course why would we travel anywhere inside a City by any means other than a car.

@ Big Chantelle. This has got very little to do with Modernism, but you're right it is monstrous, as are most of the buildings built in central Glasgow over the last long while. I think it's a capitalism problem. The go-to firms for projects of this size spend very little time on design compared to decent architects because the fee (and the business model) doesn't allow it. They're also chock full of poor architects (I know there are some exceptions). The client doesn't understand or care and neither do the planners. Then the already poor design gets Value Engineered as has happened here. Just look at the north bank of the Clyde - it's a disgrace.
Good architecture needs time, which costs money. For the most part the very best architects run small firms because they and their staff necessarily subsidise the client's fee with their own time (and low salaries), invested because of a desire to do good work. Just my opinion obviously.

Its not exactly St Pancras in London! Now that's a good station! Looks more like a kind of easy jet departure lounge ... the glazing was far better on the earlier - less financially pinched version! Surely in such prime public places these cost savings should be protected from being required - did it need a new planning application? or is the block massing and 'fancy signature action roof' all that is required to tick the planning box these days... There are plenty of great examples of modern architecture in this city - but often they are the starchitect buildings or small one off buildings as opposed to grand civic facilities. Perhaps architects just don't operate on that scale very well anymore with all the regulations involved... it very rare that new streets are built that have any sense of being part of something greater as in the terraces, tenements, and crescents of the past or even the modernist or brutal visions of post war interventions. Personally i would love to see architects thinking about reinterpreting the past in buildings today, not being afraid to use the likes of stone and sculpture to design as opposed to an emphasis on engineered systems and products chosen from catalogues or the internet.

Just stick the name Sainsbury above Glass!!!
Its vile,

Fair point #14; the 'value engineered' glazing definitely warrants a denial of the original planning consent. Although that assumes that a Council that thought the scheme good enough to grant permission in the first place has the wherewithal to understand changes in glazing spec.
There are great architects looking to pre-modernism for inspiration (eg. Caruso St John - although admittedly they have lost the plot slightly recently). It's just nobody's really doing it in Scotland yet, but my sense is it's gaining ground. I don't see the Queen St project as Modernism though as Big Chantelle seems to. There's no ideal or intellectual rigour in this rubbish. It's just a cheap, kit-built doodle that BDP thought looked good and we'll all be stuck with for 100 years. Will someone in power please insist that a good architect gets a good commission in Glasgow for once!!