LBY Archives: 1991

Inner Harbour, Cardiff Bay

The view of Cardiff Bay Inner Harbour with small boats and a historic red brick building with a clock tower in the background, the 70 metre long squashed tube of elliptical steel rings that is the Visitor Centre extends over the water.

Cardiff Bay Visitor Centre &
Restaurant Quarter Regeneration

The Cardiff Bay Visitor Centre was developed as a competition-winning temporary building to communicate the future vision for Cardiff Bay.

Designed to be eye-catching, transportable and efficient to deliver, the building needed to attract attention while remaining quick to construct and economical.

It takes the form of a 70-metre-long elliptical structure, formed from a series of steel rings, clad in plywood and insulation, and wrapped in a white PVC skin. The ‘tube’ is elevated on V-shaped steel supports from three linear strip foundations.

At one end, a cast model of the regeneration masterplan is oriented towards the Bay itself, while at the other, marketing offices were provided for Associated British Ports.

Completed in 1991, the building has since been relocated twice and received a national RIBA award – demonstrating the durability of what was conceived as a temporary intervention.  

Landsea House forms part of a wider restaurant quarter developed on the waterfront. The existing two-storey red brick maritime structure was retained and extended, with a new two-storey addition enabling its use as a Harry Ramsden’s restaurant.

A closeup of the Visitor Centre entrance with glass walls, metal supports and frames, and a large roof overhang at sunset.
Side-rear view of the the Visitor Centre tube from ground level showing the hull-wraps and support stands.
Under construction interior shot of the the 70 metre long squashed tube of the Visitor Centre, a large curved wooden structure with metal framework and beams, with a worker welding or assembling metal parts inside.
Another view of the 70 metre long squashed tube of elliptical steel rings that is the Visitor Centre extends over the water, with rocks of the doc bay in the main foreground.

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