The Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts- a study

The Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts

The Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts is an art gallery and museum located on the campus of the University of East Anglia,Norwich, United Kingdom. The building, which contains a collection of world art, was one of the first major public buildings to be designed by the architect Norman Foster, completed in 1978.

With the donation in 1973 of their collection of ethnographic and twentieth-century art to the University of East Anglia, together with an endowment for a new building, Sir Robert and Lady Sainsbury sought to establish the Sainsbury Centre as an academic and social focus within the campus. The Sainsburys shared a belief that the study of art should be an informal, pleasurable experience, not bound by the traditional enclosure of object and viewer. As a result the Sainsbury Centre is much more than a conventional gallery, where the emphasis is on art in isolation. Instead, it integrates a number of related activities within a single, light-filled space.

The building brought a new level of refinement to the practice's early explorations into lightweight, flexible enclosures

Structural and service elements are contained within the double-layer walls and roof. Within this shell is a sequence of spaces that incorporates galleries, a reception area, the Faculty of Fine Art, senior common room and a restaurant.

Full-height windows at each end open the space up to the surrounding landscape, while louvres line the interior to provide a highly flexible system for the control of natural and artificial light. Large enough to display the Sainsburys' extraordinary collection, yet designed to be intimate and inviting, the main gallery - or 'living area' - evokes the spirit of the collection's originally domestic setting.

A new gift from the Sainsburys in 1988 allowed the building to be extended to provide space for the display of the reserve collection, together with curatorial and conservation facilities and a space for exhibitions and conferences, giving the Centre greater flexibility in its programming.

The new wing extends the building below ground level, exploiting the contours of the site to emerge in the form of a glazed crescent incised in the landscape. In 2006 a further programme of improvements was completed, which provides an internal link between the main and Crescent Wing galleries, a new education centre, additional display space, and improved shop, café and other visitor amenities.

 The Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts building was opened in 1978. It was designed between 1974 and 1976 by the then relatively unknown architect Norman Foster. According to Chris Abel, "The building exemplifies Foster's early work of a regular structure embracing all functions within a single, flexible enclosure, or universal space where the design is all about allowing for change, internally and externally." (Chris ,2004)

The Centre also explains Foster's characteristic work methods of design development

The main building is sited on sloping, turfed ground, and consists of a large cuboid, clad steel structure. One face is almost entirely glazed, with the prefabricated skeleton clearly visible. Internally, the museum gives the impression of being one vast open space, lacking any internal divisions to interfere with the interplay of natural and artificial light. Services, lighting, toilets and maintenance access are housed in triangular towers and trusses, and between the external cladding and internal aluminium louvers.

By the late 1980s the collection had outgrown its accommodation, and Foster was asked to design an extension. Rather than simply extending the

existing structure as had been envisaged 15 years earlier, it was decided to look below ground. The sloping site allowed for an enlarged basement to emerge at a curved glass frontage overlooking a man-made lake.

Limitations of research through 2D media:
*sometimes we do not realize how huge the space is.
*The beauty of few elements can be appreciated only is visualized directly
*sometimes the design can be more appreciated in context to the site and surrounding if seen directly than in picture

Reference:

Everything.explained.today, (2015). Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts explained. [online] Available at: http://everything.explained.today/Sainsbury_Centre_for_Visual_Arts/ [Accessed 5 Dec. 2015].

Wikipedia, (2015). Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts. [online] Available at:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sainsbury_Centre_for_Visual_Arts [Accessed 5 Dec. 2015].

www.fosterandpartners.com, F. (2015). Innovative Architecture & Integrated Design | Foster + Partners. [online] Fosterandpartners.com. Available at: http://www.fosterandpartners.com/ [Accessed 5 Dec. 2015].

 Abel, Chris (2004). Architecture, Technology and Process. Oxford: Routledge. p. 102.