Herbert Art Gallery And Museum, Coventry

摘要

Coventry's Herbert Art Gallery and Museum is a curious institution. It contains a little of everything: artworks, archaeological artefacts, bits of machinery, a history of Lady Godiva, the city archives, a missile, a medieval loom and many other curios. The building itself is a little odd too. When completed in 1960 it turned its back on the city's ruined cathedral and Sir Basil Spence's replacement, finished two years later. The idea of forming one corner of a new city square was not part of the building's role, and instead the principal entrance faced a new and rather busy road. What Pringle Richards Sharratt (PRS) has done is turn the building around, in every sense of the phrase. The entire project was driven by a response to the medieval grid of prewar Coventry and views across to the cathedral; the original entrance has been closed off and access points located in quieter, pedestrian zones.