Publication Account

Event ID 1019439

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Publication Account

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1019439

Theatrically emphatic reinforced-concrete structure, comprising a single giant parabolic arch 324ft. long. A high-point in the postwar reinvigoration of Glasgow's tradition of constructional panache. Externally, at the sides each rib splays out to form two colossal diagonal struts. Campbell originally intended an even more daring design, using huge laminated timber beams, but transportation problems forces a change to concrete. In this new form, he drew inspiration from the buildings of the Tokyo Olympics and from the work of Nervi, whose Palazzetto dello Sport (1957) in Rome he admired. (Fig. 4.47).

Information from 'Rebuilding Scotland: The Postwar Vision, 1945-75', (1997).