In 2018 the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts will celebrate its 40th anniversary. Opened in 1978, the building was both Sir Norman Foster's first public commission and a new paradigm in museum design. The Sainsbury Centre forms part of one of the last, great phases of modernism, combining structural integrity and precision engineering with a radical approach to the integration of services. The publication will be released to coincide with the opening of Superstructures: The New Architecture 1960-1990, a major exhibition that will situate the Sainsbury Centre within its historical context and will explore architecture's fascination with new technology, lightweight structures, building techniques and engineering solutions that emerged in the post-war decades, eventually redefining the spaces of culture, work, travel and living. AUTHORS: Jane Pavitt is the Head of the School of Critical Studies and Creative Industries at Kingston University London. Abraham Thomas was previously the design and architecture curator at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, before becoming the Director of the Sir John Soames Museum. He now lives in the United States and is a Curator at the Renwick Gallery. 154 illustrations
