Gallowgate Twins, Brutalist residential towers in Camlachie district, Glasgow, Scotland
The Gallowgate Twins are two concrete residential towers in Glasgow's East End designed in brutalist style, with angular facades and raw exposed surfaces. Each tower holds hundreds of apartments stacked vertically, with mechanical floors built in to handle the building's practical systems.
Built in the 1960s, these towers rose as part of Glasgow's push to quickly provide housing for a rapidly growing city population. They embodied the era's belief that modern high-rise architecture could solve urban housing shortages.
The two towers brought together people from different backgrounds into vertical living communities, creating a new form of neighborhood life. Shared spaces on each floor meant that residents naturally encountered one another in ways that traditional neighborhoods did not.
The towers are easily recognizable from street level and serve as a clear landmark in Glasgow's East End. Since these are residential buildings, visits should be respectful of residents, and exploring the surroundings is better than attempting to enter the buildings themselves.
The foundations were fitted with hydraulic dampeners to handle wind sway and structural movement. This engineering solution was advanced for its time and allowed such tall structures to remain stable without excessive vibration.
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