2060 Pollokshaws Road, The Burrell Collection

The Burrell Collection, Pollokshaws Road

A Grade A listed museum building designed by Barry Gasson Architects between 1971 and 1983. The architectural team included Brit Andresen and John Meunier, with Jack Wilson as project architect, Felix J Samuely as structural engineer, Margaret Maxwell as landscape consultant, and Taylor Woodrow Construction as contractor.

The building was conceived specifically to house Sir William Burrell's internationally renowned collection of art and antiquities, including medieval and Renaissance architectural fragments and rooms reconstructed from Hutton Castle. It sits in a parkland setting at the edge of woodland within Pollok Park.

The museum comprises a four-storey structure with basement, ground floor, mezzanine and second-floor studios. The main section has a triangular plan clad in pink Locharbriggs sandstone with extensive glazing, intersected to the south-west by a rectangular gable-ended entrance block in matching sandstone, and projecting to the south-east by a square-plan glazed section housing the café. Additional facilities include a lecture theatre, visiting scholars' flat, crèche, library, conservation studios, plant rooms, receiving area and stores in the basement.

The building employs brick cavity wall construction faced with coursed smooth pink sandstone, glazed curtain walling, and stainless steel sheeting fixed to vertical timber boarding. The structural frame combines reinforced concrete columns and beams with laminated timber columns and beams, galvanised mild-steel connectors, reinforced concrete floor slabs and reinforced concrete internal load-bearing walls.

The south-facing entrance elevation features an advanced blank gabled entrance block on the far left, incorporating a carved sandstone shallow pointed 14th-century arch and a massive boarded oak and iron studded door. Small rectangular windows appear to the right return at first floor, with a cantilevered glazed walkway to the left return providing access to the flat above. A long glazed range extends to the right, stepping down into terraced parkland. The pink sandstone basement level has irregularly spaced rectangular openings. A projecting glazed café section occupies the far right corner.

The east elevation facing the parkland presents a projecting glazed café section to the far left corner and a long blank sandstone range to the right, with glazed and stainless steel sheeting at upper level.

The north elevation facing the woodland features extensive curtain walling with three pitched roofs breaking the wallhead and terminating in long skylights set on a north-south axis running the length of the museum roof.

The west elevation includes a sunken curved goods entrance at basement level with underground parking.

The building is roofed in sections with flat roofs covered in three-layered felt and stainless steel, or sloping glazed roofs with tongued and grooved boarding. Windows are double-glazed aluminium casements or fixed lights.

The interior preserves the original materials and plan largely unaltered, with predominantly exposed coursed pink sandstone walls, polished and unpolished stone and concrete floors, and laminated timber beams. A double-height entrance with glazed roof covers reception and shop areas, leading to a glazed courtyard space with a red sandstone and limestone floor. Two open stairs ascend to the mezzanine, supported by circular concrete columns. The courtyard is surrounded by reconstructed Hutton Castle rooms to the north, east and south, with modern bi-partite openings connecting to these spaces. The Hutton Castle rooms retain their original re-sited fireplaces, linenfold panelling and stained glass panels. A three-stage heraldic stone doorway from Hornby Castle separates the courtyard from the link to the north gallery range.

A raked lecture theatre occupies the centre of the plan, while an open-plan double-height café to the south-east of the ground floor is accessed by a substantial stone stair. Most of the circulation space is double-height, proceeding from the courtyard around inner galleries set on a north-south axis, offering through-views to the woodland beyond the extensive north-facing glazed curtain wall. Blonde timber boarded or framed glazed ceilings throughout are defined by laminated timber rafters. Bespoke glass object cases are cantilevered and set within walls, with additional freestanding cases; the galleries contain architect-designed chairs and tables.

The mezzanine and first floor accommodate a library, offices, former crèche, flat and purpose-built conservation studios with integrated services. Boarded timber and glazed partition walls and ceilings are used throughout these levels.