Google Sightseeing takes you on tour of the world as seen from satellite, using the free Google Earth program, or Google Maps in your web browser. Each weekday your guides James and Alex present new weird and wonderful sights as suggested by readers.

The editors: James & Alex

The Armadillo & the SECC

Friday, 26th May 2006 by Alex

This is the Armadillo in Glasgow.

Oh all right, it’s really the Clyde Auditorium, but everyone calls it the Armadillo. It was designed to be a 3,000 seat extension to the boxy beige building to the north - the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre, which was the largest exhibition hall in the whole of the UK anyway.

Obviously comparisions have been made between the design of the Cylde Auditorium and that of the Sydney Opera House, and yet the architects, Foster and Partners, claim it wasn’t the inspiration for the design.

I agree, it looks more like they just stole it outright. ;-)

Thanks to Tom.

2 Responses to 'The Armadillo & the SECC'

  1. 1. Arun says:

    I go to the University of North Texas and we have a very similar armadillo audatorium.

  2. 2. Peter Ramsay says:

    The car park to the east is exactly the same shape as the auditorium. The whole area is full of great sights, with the tall ship to the west, the science centre and glasgow tower accross the river, the Glasgow crane to the east which is a relic of the ship building era and now a landmark, and the north and south rotundas which are actually the entrance and exits to the old clyde tunnel which was for pedestrians and carriages. It closed in the 1980’s.
    Enjoy

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