Mr Blue Sky wrote:It's a good design but I don't understand the rationale of building it in Cardiff unless there really is a plan to "Britify" the Welsh capital.
What will be next? Maybe a Shrine to the Empire or a Museum of Our Glorious Conquest of the Heathen.
*sigh*
They wanted to modernise their facilities and attract more visitors, so were looking for an area with a decent tourist economy. Cardiff was one of a number of places they examined and apparently the council were very keen and went out of their way to help them find a site, support the securing of funding etc.
I agree the historical links with the city are pretty tenuous - somewhere like Plymouth or Portsmouth would seem a more natural home. But if you want a maritime location that gets decent footfall, is "outside the South East", then Cardiff Bay probably ranks pretty highly. This conspiracy malarchy is just a bit ridiculous. They don't need to worry about Wales going the way of Scotland - support for independence around 10%, and the Tories (Unionists) on course for a plurality of Welsh seats.
Anyway I love the design - if it looks anything like that. The one worrying thing is the disclaimer against every one of the full renders:
"Artistic Impression only. NTS. Not to be interpreted as a verified view. Materials, finishes and their visual appearance may be altered during final design and construction."
It seems the design is fixed structurally - and it seems a good set up for a museum, especially with the 'narrative' ramp - but the materials could change. I would expect it'll look rather less "transparent" than shown: they'll want to darken the windows and perhaps use less glass than shown for reasons of environmental control and energy efficiency.