The National Gallery is busy changing its shape. Its east wing development opened in autumn 2004 and is, according to architects Jeremy Dixon and Edward Jones, 'the first stage of the masterplan'.
Encouraged by the pedestrianisation of the north side of Trafalgar Square, the gallery will in due course open up both its east and west entrance on to the square. This will allow the conversion of the ground floor of the building - currently dedicated to support functions and ancillary galleries - into much more extended public space.
So far, so good. The National Gallery's collection is too large for the existing galleries and the downstairs galleries are currently somewhat uninviting. But will there now be too many entrances? Will this be confusing to the public and expensive to make secure?
If it is fully executed, the short facade of the building will contain four public entrances onto Trafalgar Square, including the Sainsbury Wing and the existing central portico entrance, as well as the under-used back entrance on Orange Street.
A perplexing feature of the scheme is that it does not appear to address the most pressing need of the National Gallery - the creation of a large temporary exhibition gallery suitable for major international shows.
The downstairs spaces created in the Sainsbury Wing 20 years ago work well for the intimate displays they were intended to house, but are often too small for the increasingly large installations shown in them now.
As for the new atrium, visitors might think they are arriving in an airport lounge - there is no indication that they are moving from a crowded public square into an entirely different space. No concession is made to the fact that this is a building devoted to the fine arts.
There's not a picture in sight, no statuary, not even a mission statement. Instead, there's a shop on the left, a restaurant to the right and a reception desk ahead.
The only wall decoration in the atrium is a list of donors, interesting to some, but not to the majority of visitors. Yes, there are dazzling white walls, a handsome limestone floor, and a 'giant wainscoting' of black marble, but while everything is elegant, it is also cool, hard and heartless.
The staircase leads from the new atrium to the refurbished main staircase and then to the Central Hall. The trouble here is that it is just a hall, with entrances on all four sides leading to a temporary exhibition space and the main suite of galleries to the east and west.
Though some visitors do look at Titan's painting of Diana and Actaeon displayed here, many pass rapidly through without a glance. While the old circular chronological progression around the gallery may no longer be valid, it did at least avoid any sense of the gallery as a passage - one of the most depressing qualities of mega-museums today.
Perhaps it is the strong affection that many have for the National Gallery that makes these recent changes so worrying. In spite of its steady expansion and almost 5 million visitors a year, it still just manages to retain a feeling of intimacy that distinguishes it from many museums of comparable standing. But, with its new icy atrium, will this be true for much longer?
Giles Waterfield is the director of the Attingham Trust
Encouraged by the pedestrianisation of the north side of Trafalgar Square, the gallery will in due course open up both its east and west entrance on to the square. This will allow the conversion of the ground floor of the building - currently dedicated to support functions and ancillary galleries - into much more extended public space.
So far, so good. The National Gallery's collection is too large for the existing galleries and the downstairs galleries are currently somewhat uninviting. But will there now be too many entrances? Will this be confusing to the public and expensive to make secure?
If it is fully executed, the short facade of the building will contain four public entrances onto Trafalgar Square, including the Sainsbury Wing and the existing central portico entrance, as well as the under-used back entrance on Orange Street.
A perplexing feature of the scheme is that it does not appear to address the most pressing need of the National Gallery - the creation of a large temporary exhibition gallery suitable for major international shows.
The downstairs spaces created in the Sainsbury Wing 20 years ago work well for the intimate displays they were intended to house, but are often too small for the increasingly large installations shown in them now.
As for the new atrium, visitors might think they are arriving in an airport lounge - there is no indication that they are moving from a crowded public square into an entirely different space. No concession is made to the fact that this is a building devoted to the fine arts.
There's not a picture in sight, no statuary, not even a mission statement. Instead, there's a shop on the left, a restaurant to the right and a reception desk ahead.
The only wall decoration in the atrium is a list of donors, interesting to some, but not to the majority of visitors. Yes, there are dazzling white walls, a handsome limestone floor, and a 'giant wainscoting' of black marble, but while everything is elegant, it is also cool, hard and heartless.
The staircase leads from the new atrium to the refurbished main staircase and then to the Central Hall. The trouble here is that it is just a hall, with entrances on all four sides leading to a temporary exhibition space and the main suite of galleries to the east and west.
Though some visitors do look at Titan's painting of Diana and Actaeon displayed here, many pass rapidly through without a glance. While the old circular chronological progression around the gallery may no longer be valid, it did at least avoid any sense of the gallery as a passage - one of the most depressing qualities of mega-museums today.
Perhaps it is the strong affection that many have for the National Gallery that makes these recent changes so worrying. In spite of its steady expansion and almost 5 million visitors a year, it still just manages to retain a feeling of intimacy that distinguishes it from many museums of comparable standing. But, with its new icy atrium, will this be true for much longer?
Giles Waterfield is the director of the Attingham Trust
