Glasgow-based architect Alan Dunlop, who visited the site over the weekend, said the destruction caused to the building is "irreparable".

"Mackintosh's Glasgow School of Art is gone," he told Dezeen.

"It is certainly possible to rebuild but you cannot replicate 110 years of history," he said. "The students, artists and architects who have worked there, and whose presence permeated the building – that's what has been lost in the fire."

"We should resist the calls to rebuild"

Dunlop, who was a student at the Glasgow School of Art and is a visiting professor at Robert Gordon University, Scott Sutherland School of Architecture, claimed the damage is far worse than the school sustained during the previous fire in 2014, which destroyed large sections of the interior.

....

"We should resist the calls to rebuild it as before, 'stone by stone'. That would not be restoration, it would be replication – a process I believe Mackintosh himself would resist, as he was an innovator, not a copyist."

Damage "much worse" than after previous fire

More than 120 firefighters were called to Glasgow School of Art just before midnight on Friday to tackle the blaze, which spread from the building's ground floor all the way up to the roof. Firefighters were able to get the fire under control after several hours.

Aerial photographs released shortly after the fire reveal the extensive damage – the roof appears to have been completely destroyed, and many of the floors are burnt out.

Billy Hare, professor in construction management at Glasgow Caledonian University, estimated the cost of rebuilding at more than £100 million.

"The damage to the school of art appeared to be overwhelming, much worse than the last fire from which recovered materials were painstakingly analysed and used in the refurbishment of the building," he told The Scotsman.

....