Architect	Foster + Partners
Date Built	Completed 2000
Location	Exhibition Way, Glasgow
Description
It has become common in recent times for the public and the media to attach a name to a building because of what it reminds them of.  We have the Gherkin, The Cheese Grater and The Walkie Talkie so it would come as no surprise to hear that this building in Glasgow is known as The Armadillo.  Fosters + Partners website claims that the SEC Armadillo is ."... a flexible mix of spaces for conferences, exhibitions, live performances, concerts and corporate functions at every level from the intimate to the vast."  When completed it was the only venue of its kind in the UK and the fourth in Europe to be capable of seating up to 3,000 delegates.  They add that, "Within the context of a very tight budget, the challenge was to create the most economic enclosure for all the components of a complex brief - auditorium, exhibition halls, concourses - which form the setting for what might be thought of as industrial theatre. .... the conference hall is technically state-of-the-art - complete with wings and full back-stage facilities - but is flexible enough to allow large trucks to be driven directly onto the stage."   During the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, the Armadillo was the venue for weightlifting.