About Us

 The Lighthouse Vision: "To be a leading body for the promotion of architecture, design and the creative industries, locally, nationally and internationally by engaging people of all ages through a creative exhibition, education and business programme."

The Lighthouse was opened in July 1999, by HM Queen Elizabeth, after a £13 million ($20 million) conversion, which transformed Charles Rennie Mackintosh's derelict 1895 Glasgow Herald newspaper office into Scotland's first, dedicated, national centre for architecture and design.

As a charitable trust, we draw our income from a combination of public and private funds. Our annual turnover is £2.5 million, of which around £1 million is derived from substantial government grants to promote its Architecture Policy for Scotland. Over half of our 60 staff are funded by grants from government or other sources.

Since opening we have grown to be an ambitious organisation believing passionately in the transformational power of architecture and design to improve people's lives; championing and promoting Scotland’s architecture and design nationally and internationally while profiling them from across the country and the world, bringing world-class thinking and projects to the UK.

The Lighthouse is one of the only centres in the world that is equally dedicated to architecture and design. Our definition of design includes graphic, product and industrial, interior, fashion, textiles, jewellery and digital design with architecture relating to the built environment, from buildings and planning to landscape design.

Our exhibition programme aims to deepen understanding of architecture and design by stimulating interest and encouraging debate. It also aspires to nurture and support the professional development of architects and designers in Scotland and beyond so we help to create a culture of learning and professionalism that encourages excellence and critical thinking, practice and productivity.

However, staging exhibitions is only part of what we do. To truly engage the public and profession and to leave meaningful and memorable traces we also create and deliver festivals, lectures, talks, debates, events, seminars, conferences, networking events, building and city tours, awards, publications and product development in association with other networks and initiatives.

We award and celebrate successes but also provoke and challenge the industry to better its craft. The result, we believe is a tangible improvement in the quality of ideas, design, expectation and an increase in profile nationally and internationally.

With our 10-year anniversary approaching we look forward to further developing a programme that explores, inspires, challenges, entertains and celebrates quality thinking and practice in an approachable and engaging way.

Nick Barley
Director