The Biography of a Building tells the remarkable story of the Sainsbury Centre for the Visual Arts at the University of East Anglia, built to contain Sir Robert and Lady Sainsburys private collection of paintings, drawings and sculptures, and opened in April 1978. It begins with the history of the Sainsburys collection, set beside the parallel journeys of three other private collectors and the museums they built to house their treasures. The heart of the account the selection of Norman Foster as the architect, the identification of the site, the design and completion of the building, and the installation of the collection unfolds through a combination of incisive narrative and carefully selected quotations from Sir Robert, Foster and the UEA authorities. The author then considers the role of the Sainsbury Centre as the launch pad for Fosters meteoric rise to fame and fortune, before returning to the building, the construction of an extension the Crescent Wing opened in 1991, and a major refurbishment completed in 2006.
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. Learn more. |
Book Description
Product details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
More About the Author
Discover books, learn about writers, and more.
Product Description
Review
`The cultural load expressed in this book is a rewarding read' --Monocle
`A stirring adventure story, relating how life can be transformed by great art ... a wonderfully told saga'
--Eastern Daily Press
`A compelling account of how innovation and determination created a compelling building'
--Sue Ecclestone, Cassone
Rybczynski's book is immensely readable and achieves what he sets out to do, which is to outline in detail the course
of a building's life. --Burlington Magazine
`A stirring adventure story, relating how life can be transformed by great art ... a wonderfully told saga'
--Eastern Daily Press
`A compelling account of how innovation and determination created a compelling building'
--Sue Ecclestone, Cassone
Rybczynski's book is immensely readable and achieves what he sets out to do, which is to outline in detail the course
of a building's life. --Burlington Magazine
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
By Don Panik
TOP 500 REVIEWER
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
Having first experienced the Sainsbury centre as a post grad at UEA in the early 1980's, I realise now that I was in complete ignorance of the background to the building, contents and infighting that marked its beginnings. I have always had a soft spot for Foster's take on modernism and the Sainsbury is well worth a visit. I would have liked a lot more pictures to accompany the text, but in fairness this is more library book than coffee table book. Ironic really in that I used to visit the Sainsbury centre as a relief from the library!
Fascinating book which has inspired me to go back to Norwich to see the updates and extensions. Wow, the whole site is just so much more filled in.
Fascinating book which has inspired me to go back to Norwich to see the updates and extensions. Wow, the whole site is just so much more filled in.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
By Champak
VINE™ VOICE
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
Though it was interesting to know how they put their ideas for building new museum, however there're only few photos in the book. Explaining of how these ideas made spaces were nice, but seeing them in a picture could be great. Knowing about life of Sainsbury was interesting and somehow relevant as well, though it was much more interesting how a building is concieved and then led to flourish. When I look at a building, at times im wonder how it ended to that point, which I have to say this book in a very fabulous way talked about all that. I always admired the work of Norman Foster and somehow reading this book makes me feel much more awed about him.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
By C. O'Brien
VINE™ VOICE
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
Having been an undergraduate at the University of East Anglia (UEA) during the late 70s, I was interested to read this account of the genesis and development of the Sainsbury Centre for the Visual Arts from a historical viewpoint. More than 30 years have passed since Norman Foster's sleek post-modernist aircraft hangar first challenged the concrete brutalism of Denys Lasdun's original university architecture, and much of the information given here wasn't available at the time - certainly not to those of us reading something other than Fine Art. I remember hearing rumours of infighting and dissatisfaction with the building, but this book reveals the extent of disputes over design, siting and detail - for example, although the vast exhibition space was much admired, the academics hated their offices and teaching rooms.
I hadn't even realised that the building had been so extensively renovated and extended in more recent years, and was fascinated to learn of the new semi-underground annex, nestled like a hobbit-hole into the curve of the land. Much of the charm of the original site was its lake and green swathes of parkland, and it looks as though the site hasn't completely succumbed to sprawl.
The book has a number of colour and black-and-white illustrations, though I could have done with more of these - if production costs were an issue, savings could have been made on the unusually thick, high-quality paper. I can't help feeling that such a book might pick up a more extensive general readership - in the Centre shop, maybe - if its format had been a little more coffee-table and a little less textual. It is a well-researched and well-written biography, though, and as such it probably does its job well.
I hadn't even realised that the building had been so extensively renovated and extended in more recent years, and was fascinated to learn of the new semi-underground annex, nestled like a hobbit-hole into the curve of the land. Much of the charm of the original site was its lake and green swathes of parkland, and it looks as though the site hasn't completely succumbed to sprawl.
The book has a number of colour and black-and-white illustrations, though I could have done with more of these - if production costs were an issue, savings could have been made on the unusually thick, high-quality paper. I can't help feeling that such a book might pick up a more extensive general readership - in the Centre shop, maybe - if its format had been a little more coffee-table and a little less textual. It is a well-researched and well-written biography, though, and as such it probably does its job well.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
›
Go to Amazon.com to see the review
4.0 out of 5 stars
Was this review helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
2.0 out of 5 stars
Not engaging for the non-architect
Was recommended this by my architect father, but quickly went back on the shelf I'm afraid - tried picking it up again a couple of times, but not really a book anyone other than an... Read more
Published 1 month ago by B Keeler
4.0 out of 5 stars
Entertaining and enjoyable
I really enjoyed this book. I have no specialist knowledge and the book has a very subdued grey cover, so it sat on my bookshelf for a long time before I decided to give it a go. Read more
Published 1 month ago by rollerskate
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not what I had hope for
My criticisms of this book stem from an interpretation of the title for which I am entirely to blame. Read more
Published 6 months ago by bomble
4.0 out of 5 stars
Architects delight, a good read for the layman.
Lord Foster became a giant in the architectural field with this building being recognised by many as one of his first steps. Read more
Published 7 months ago by Jack Chakotay
4.0 out of 5 stars
The architect and the philantropists
I work in one of Foster's buildings and I have an amateur interest in art, so I figured this book would make for an interesting lunch break read. And I did like it. Read more
Published 9 months ago by Maria2222
3.0 out of 5 stars
The boring biography of a building.
I would have liked a few more pictures in this book really. Being a rather creative sort of chap it was the artistic side of things that interested me in this book. Read more
Published 10 months ago by The Truth
3.0 out of 5 stars
A Restricted Perspective
I suppose I was drawn to the subject matter as I am to books about much modern art. I don't really 'get' the Sainsbury Centre and I was intrigued to discover what it was I was... Read more
Published 11 months ago by S. Thomas
3.0 out of 5 stars
Somewhat disappointed!
I am in real estate and I enjoy architecture. so I thought that this would be the book for me. I was wrong. This reads like a text book and I found it hard to finish. Read more
Published 14 months ago by Graham
4.0 out of 5 stars
The story of the Shed
44 years ago the supermarket millionaires Robert and Lisa Sainsbury offered their collection to the University of East Anglia. It was considerable. Read more
Published 15 months ago by the lambanana
5.0 out of 5 stars
Enjoyable and informative
The Sainsbury Centre is a lovely building, perhaps made to appear more so by the rather lacklustre buildings by Denys Lasdun elsewhere on the University of East Anglia campus. Read more
Published 15 months ago by Peter
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
