An architect who truly deserves his iconic status

CHARLES RENNIE MACKINTOSH

WHEN does an icon become an icon? Some buildings, like the Bilbao Guggenheim, achieve iconic status from the moment they are built. Others, like the Glasgow School of Art, take years. Completed in 1909, it took half a century for it to attain iconic status. At a time when cities are in global competition, employing international architects to give them instantaneous iconic buildings, Charles Rennie Mackintosh's School of Art trumps all those two-minute wonders and wannabe icons. A real landmark, it shows how buildings don't have to be flashy to be noticed.

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In an age of architectural hyperinflation, when blobs, shards, gherkins and endless towers jostle for attention, the School of Art and its playfully inventive design stand out. It has been described as a "youthful" building. Mackintosh was a young man when he designed it, and it shows his many enthusiasms - architectural history, buildings he sketched on his travels, what was going on around him in the design powerhouse of Victorian Glasgow. The building's originality comes from the free-play of those different influences and interests - an inventiveness that has the worldwide, popular appeal essential for iconic status.

Mackintosh's own iconic status is based on a breadth of innovative architecture demonstrating the variety of work that was open to an architect in the Empire's "second city".

From the Glasgow Herald (now The Lighthouse) and Daily Record (Hope Street) buildings to Scotland Street and the Hill House in Helensburgh, his energy and creative range is still outstandingly evident.

Why is Mackintosh's work a wonder? Like his European counterparts, he was trying to invent a new style, but his was based on the Scottish vernacular. He used Scots baronial architecture, tower houses and other native references in his work. Gaudi in Barcelona, Hoffman in Vienna and Horta in Brussels were also pioneering a similar vision of a national architectural style combining decoration and structure.

Thankfully, because of the contemporary phenomenon of the blockbuster international touring exhibition, with its extensive media coverage, people have rediscovered Art Nouveau and discovered Mackintosh. Because of this, he has found a prominent place in a highly popular art movement. People can now see he was not a lonely genius but one among many celebrated designers - a connection the international trade in cultural tourism has readily exploited and helped consolidate Mackintosh's iconic status.

Mackintosh was also youthful or innocent enough to attempt to create a design that celebrated Scottish identity by drawing on Celtic and clan symbolism. He did this in a way that was new, but not parochial, and merited widespread international attention. Mackintosh is wonderfully unique because he was that rare thing, an artist, architect and designer all rolled into one; a creative industry before the term was invented. The School of Art and the Hill House are masterworks because they successfully integrate structure, decoration, interior design, furniture, lighting, artwork - they have everything going for them. Even his commercial tearoom interiors show the same sense of artistic unity.

The Art School, in continuous use since it was built, is about to benefit from major investment; the Hill House has been lovingly conserved by the National Trust for Scotland; the Herald building has been transformed into The Lighthouse, and the tearooms are being lovingly restored, while his House for an Art Lover took shape nearly 100 years after it was first designed. All have become major tourist attractions. The iconic status of Mackintosh's work flowered late, but it is now synonymous with Scotland as a creative nation.

• The Hill House was donated to the National Trust for Scotland in 1982. Mackintosh designed the house, interiors, furniture and gardens. A gallery shows work by designers inspired by his work.

• Stuart MacDonald is director of The Lighthouse in Glasgow.