This thesis presents a study of the Glasgow School of Art, based primarily upon study and analysis of the building's technology and spatial functionality, rather than of the visual attributes of the design. In so doing, the study analyses key factors relating to the School's origins, the means of its procurement and the likely contributions of parties other than Charles Rennie Mackintosh to the overall design process.

A 3-dimensional drawn study is presented which was prepared as an analytical tool in the study of the building's technology. The drawings also provide a record of the spatial assemblage of the School, the contrasts of openness and enclosure, the changes of scale and the interpenetration of spaces which cannot be presented either by photography or by 2-dimensional drawing. It presents views of the building which cannot be appreciated by observation, due to the nature of the surrounding developments.

In researching the origins of the building's functional requirements and of the means by which it was procured the writer has come upon documentation which has not, to his knowledge, been referred to in previous studies. This documentation records the requirements of British industry and the aims of the educational system which were to lead to the development of a substantial number of new Art Schools in Britain at the end of the nineteenth century. It also relates details of the means by which these developments were financed and presents information relating to the involvement of various members of the Glasgow architectural establishment with the Glasgow School of Art and with the competition for the design of the building.