| Architect |
Robert Venturi &
Denise Scott Brown |
| Date Built |
1991 |
| Location |
Pall Mall |
| Description |
|
| The Sainsbury Wing of the
National Gallery in London's Trafalgar
Square, occupies the site of a former
department store destroyed by bombing in
WWII. The plan to add this extension
to the gallery initiated an architectural
competition and, considering the
sensitivity of the site, the usual
controversy. As an article on
Bdonline.co.uk in 2011 said, "...
The project for the extension of the
National Gallery proved one of the
most fiercely contested battle lines
in the culture wars between modernists
and traditionalists that characterised
architectural debate in the eighties
and early nineties." Designs were entered from a number of architects with the firm of Ahrends, Burton and Koralek being the one that was finally selected. However, a storm of controversy stirred up by the intervention of Prince Charles, who described the design as, "... a monstrous carbuncle on the face of a much-loved and elegant friend", resulted in the plan being dropped. In the end the commission went to the apparently more Charles-friendly practice of Robert Venturi & Denise Scott Brown. Their post-modern plan had a facade that blended in with the 19th century building next door.  With a contribution
of £50million from Lord Sainsbury and
two of his brothers, the galleries
created within the new wing became
home to the National's collection of
Renaissance paintings.
   |
|
|
Sainsbury
Wing, National Gallery, London
 Close Window  |