
Glasgow's Riverside Museum - curtis
https://www.arthitectural.com/zaha-hadid-architects-riverside-museum/
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I’ve always been annoyed by the praise this building attracts. For those
unfamiliar, this is the second home of Glasgow’s transport museum, after
leaving a much loved previous location when it was repurposed for the
Commonwealth Games.

There is no question in my mind that this new building is impressive as an
artistic architectural endeavour, but in performing its intended function as a
museum it is pretty awful. The previous location was large and spacious,
allowing you to get up close and examine the extensive collection of exhibits.
The new location, many of the cars are now stacked vertically on an artsy wall
display 4-5 stories tall. This means that for a large chunk of the collection
of cars in the _transport_ museum, all you can really see is the underside of
the cars. As a kid in the old one, pressing one’s face up to the windows to
peer inside was half the damn fun, this is entirely impossible in the new
museum thanks to this design.

The use of space is generally questionable throughout, the number of exhibits
on display at any one time significantly less. The maritime model collection
has been reduced from a huge room to a bizarre conveyor belt thing that can
only display a handful of the hundreds of models the old one could. Much of
the displays seem compromised by a desire not to interfere with the
architect’s vision for the space. The once impressive display of Glasgow’s
long gone public trams is hugely reduced also.

The weird decisions even extend to the bathrooms, where the stalls have a pull
door when closed, but no handle to pull them open (at least at the time of my
last visit a year ago). This forced me to stab my fingers into the tiny gap
between door and wall to try and pry the thing open.

I find visiting this new museum a saddening experience anytime I visit
Glasgow. This museum looks great in photos and I can see how it’s striking
design probably convinced the city to back it. It’s just a shame it is such a
clear regression in its primary function as a museum compared to its
predecessor. The old location was also directly across the road from The
Kelvingrove Museum, arguably one of the finest museums in the U.K. This
allowed you to explore both on foot easily back in the day, a great day out.

Perhaps most annoyingly, Glasgow City Council appears to consider this project
an enormous success. It always seemed the city was much more interested in
getting a shiny architectural curiosity on the banks of the Clyde than it was
interested in making a great museum. In 50 years I imagine few will remember
the Common Wealth Games that largely triggered this move, they will still be
stuck with a much inferior museum.

