The McManus: Dundee’s Art Gallery & Museum, in Albert Square
The McManus Galleries were originally dedicated to Queen Victoria’s Consort and named the Albert Institute. Conceived as a focus for literature, science and art, in 1867 Sir George Gilbert Scott created a powerful gothic icon reflecting Dundee’s contemporary confidence, wealth and intellect.
Effectively, the building is an assembly of distinctive rooms designed at different times for a range of related but separate functions. These rooms were clustered around the main north entrance and each has its own architectural character expressed externally.
Over the years, the building interior had been adapted to suit the changing needs of the city resulting in a building that had lost its clarity. Page \ Park have been responsible for the conservation, repair and sensitive adaptation of this Category ‘A’ Listed building. This work was the most important opportunity since 1889 to address the functions of the building as a whole, in response to current and future demands: Dundee City Council wished to conserve this unique legacy and provide an inclusive, welcoming, state of the art, ʻmust seeʼ, heritage experience. Access by the public at all levels was a key element of the brief and by re-arranging support and access functions, prominence and dignity has been restored to the original rooms. The work at McManus Galleries has removed clutter and made the building organisation clearer, better serviced and more accessible.
The project includes a new entrance on the south elevation on the axis of the north elevation, creating a new arrival point at the heart of the building. A new circulation core with stairs and lift connects all levels of the building. The geometry of the new stair relates to the vesica piscis form at the heart of the building’s gothic language. The resulting sculptural form echoes that of Gilbert Scott’s circular stair adjacent to the north entrance and the sweeping external stone stair on the west façade.
Externally, McManus Galleries had become stranded on a traffic island; railings, barriers and road signs dominated the approach from the city centre making it an obstacle course to negotiate rather than an inviting prospect. In 2002, Dundee City Council held a limited competition for a design study on Albert Square that Page \ Park won. Key aspects of the brief were an improved setting for the grade ‘A’ listed McManus Galleries building, the need for a green lung and pedestrian respite within the city.
Taking cues from the circular setting of the classical High School building adjacent, the building is inscribed by a gothic vesica shape creating a series of gardens and paved terraces around the building. A paved terrace to the south directs visitors to the new south entrance and a welcoming café terrace, boxed hedging to the west creates small lawns and planted beds, ivy groundcover is used in the more shaded east garden and paving to the north reconfigures the setting around the existing statuary. In the tradition of patterned paving, radiating lines decorate the streetscape, extending the gallery out into the urban space and drawing people in from the commercial centre of the town.
The challenge of the project was to integrate the demands of the existing streetscape into the design without losing the guiding concepts. The result is a new square that embraces the approach of shared surfaces to allow pedestrians to take priority in this important civic space.
What the project has achieved:
- A new south entrance to the building from a new plaza.
- A new shop, café and reception area.
- Open gallery spaces to display the collections.
- Appropriate storage and office facilities.
- A new top-lit atrium with lift and stair.
- A traffic free planted “green lung” environment for the galleries and the people of the city.
- Complete refurbishment of all internal services and control systems to minimise power usage: The M+E design made a successful bid to Dundee City Council Central Energy Efficiency Fund for budget allocation to boilers and controls; lighting controls and energy efficient lighting. Improved blinds and lighting to conserve the artifacts and minimize heating / cooling loads were introduced.
- The underpinning of the building, safeguarding it for the future: The work entailed considerable research into the original timber piling system, receiving a commendation at the Saltire Society Civil Engineering Awards 2010.
- Conservation and restoration of the roofs, lead work, stained glass and stonework. Of particular note is the lead work to the three fleches and the associated lead statuary of the building that were completely overhauled. The workmanship to the fleches was of a high standard however, the design and choice of panel sizing detailing etc. was, by modern standards poor and had resulted in the failure of the lead thereby allowing water ingress. The project aimed to remedy these problems yet maintain the original aesthetic. The lead work received the Lead Contractors Association Murdoch Award for the work on the building.
- A new Creative Learning Suite.
- State of the art and Improved interactive interpretation of displays.
- Commissioned models and visualisations.
- Funding towards re-launching the facility and marketing Creative Learning Programmes and further opportunities for public interaction with arts and heritage.
Page \ Park believe that contemporary design must be undertaken with continual reference to the past. The practice has always maintained and developed an expertise in conservation architecture that works in symbiosis with our contemporary design thinking. The office’s expertise in conservation architecture anchors and informs Page \ Park’s contemporary design concepts and sustainability strategies, whilst creative thinking allows for a flexible approach to our work with historic buildings.
There has been an overwhelmingly positive reaction from the city towards the project, affirming our aim at McManus to create a catalyst within the heart of the city and creating an exemplary example of the practice’s strive to achieve our conservation aims.
