Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Sainsbury Centre |
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Sainsbury Centre
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| General information | |
| Status | Complete |
| Type | Art gallery and museum |
| Architectural style | Structural Expressionism |
| Location | UEA, Norwich, England, UK |
| Construction started | 1974 |
| Completed | 1978 |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect | Foster + Partners |
The Sainsbury Centre is a cool place in Norwich, England. It's an art gallery and museum located on the campus of the University of East Anglia. This special building holds a huge collection of art from all over the world. It was one of the first big public buildings designed by the famous architects Norman Foster and Wendy Cheesman. It was finished in 1978 and became a protected historic building in 2012.
Building Design
The Sainsbury Centre opened its doors in 1978. It was designed between 1974 and 1976 by Norman Foster, who was not very well known back then. The building shows Foster's early ideas. He liked to create a single, flexible space that could be used for many different things. This design makes it easy to change the inside and outside of the building.
The Sainsbury Centre is located on the western side of the university campus, right next to the River Yare. It also has the School of World Art Studies and Museology inside. Foster once said that a building is great because of its client. He meant that the Sainsbury family and the university really helped make the building what it is.
The main building sits on a grassy slope. It looks like a big box made of steel and covered with panels. One side is almost all glass, so you can see the steel frame clearly. Inside, the museum feels like one huge open room. There are no walls to block the natural light or the special lighting. Things like bathrooms, lights, and maintenance areas are hidden in triangular towers and between the outer walls and inner panels.
By the late 1980s, the art collection had grown too big for the building. So, Foster was asked to design an extension. Instead of just adding more rooms above ground, they decided to build underground! The sloping land allowed for a larger basement area. This new part has a curved glass front that looks out over a man-made lake. This lake reminds people of the nearby 13th-century Norfolk Broads. You can't really tell how big the new wing is unless you look at it from the lake. This new part, called the crescent wing, opened in 1991.
The Sainsbury Art Collection
In 1973, Sir Robert Sainsbury and Lady Lisa Sainsbury gave their amazing art collection to the university. They had been collecting art since the 1930s. Their gift included over 300 artworks and objects. Since then, the collection has grown to thousands of pieces! These artworks cover more than 5000 years of human history.
You can find art by famous artists like Jacob Epstein, Henry Moore, Alberto Giacometti, and Francis Bacon. There's also art from Africa, Asia, North and South America, and the Pacific region. The collection also includes art from medieval Europe and the ancient Mediterranean area. For example, there's a 'Fang Reliquary Head' from Gabon and a Nigerian 'Head of an Oba'.
Filming Location
Did you know the Sainsbury Centre has been in movies? In June 2014, parts of the Centre were used for filming scenes for two big movies: Avengers: Age of Ultron and Ant-Man. How cool is that!
See also
In Spanish: Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts para niños
