In Pictures: An Extraordinary Building
October 2019
The Story of the Sainsbury Centre
Photo: Pete Huggins
The building, with its engineered steel space frame, is clad in gleaming white panels and eight-metre high glass facades.
— Sainsbury Centre
Sir Robert & Lady Sainsbury in the gallery
Commissioned in 1974 and opened in 1978, the Sainsbury Centre was built to house the donation of Robert and Lisa Sainsbury’s collection.
— Sainsbury Centre
Photo: Nigel Young, Foster & Partners
“The building that we created together was to challenge many preconceptions about museums.” Norman Foster – architect of the Sainsbury Centre
— Sainsbury Centre
Robert and Lisa Sainsbury Collection, Sainsbury Centre. © Richard Bryant 2019
“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.” – Norman Foster
— Sainsbury Centre
Sainsbury Centre © Richard Bryant 2019
"The Sainsburys gave their architect a surprisingly open brief and the enormous, adaptable interior which houses a range of functions from teaching, display and exhibition spaces to cafes, a restaurant and shop, was achieved by locating all the services the skin of the building."
— Sainsbury Centre
Photo: Nigel Young, Foster & Partners
“The light quality of the ceiling is unlike anything we’ve ever seen before at this scale – shimmering, playful, iridescent, disturbing, like a thousand Bridget Riley optical vibrations laid end to end.” – Charles Jenks
— Sainsbury Centre
Photo: Andy Crouch
An Icon for the Region
— Sainsbury Centre
More Information
Photographs telling the story of the amazing Sainsbury Centre building, designed by Norman Foster