The Building
Nestled within the serene Whitworth Park and proudly affiliated with the esteemed University of Manchester, The Whitworth stands as a distinguished art gallery, boasting an impressive collection of approximately 55,000 pieces.
The £15 million development was awarded Building of the Year prize in the RIBA North West Regional Awards and RIBA National Award. The Whitworth has notable collections of watercolours, sculptures, wallpapers and textiles. The gallery focuses on modern artists, and the art collections include works by Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth, Ford Madox Brown, Eduardo Paolozzi, Francis Bacon, William Blake, David Hockney, L.S. Lowry, Paul Gauguin, Vincent van Gogh and Pablo Picasso, and a fine collection of works by J.M.W. Turner.
The Glass
The use of Stadip and Cool-Lite coated glass is vital to ensure the indoor space does not overheat due to huge expanses of glass. The special coating on Cool-Lite solar control glass is designed to mirror and absorb heat, along with filtering light for decreased glare. This reduces the heat entering a building and minimises the need for air conditioning and blinds. Solar control glass also helps protect art from damage caused by solar radiation. Meanwhile, laminated safety and security glass, such as Stadip, consists of two or more sheets of glass bonded together with interlayers of polyvinyl butyral (PVB) film. This type of glass can help safeguard against break-in attempts or vandalism by delaying, or even preventing, penetration through the glass in the event of forced entry or damage.
