The National Museum of the Coast combined the collections of two institutes: the Wales Industrial and Maritime Museum and the Swansea Maritime and Industrial Museum.
Swansea, like Liverpool and Manchester, was a wealthy industrial and port city a few decades ago, but changes in the UK's economic structure have pushed it into the background. A happier era of prosperity and dedicated to the museum's exposition.
The site chosen for the construction was the site of a former railway depot opposite the old warehouse, a protected architectural monument, where the Swansea Industrial Museum was located. This brick building was also part of the museum complex: a glass passage connected it with the new buildings. The curve of their plan follows the line of the paths: along this curve, a number of almost completely glazed structures have been erected. The facades of these cubic volumes are dissected by a rectangular grid. The sides facing the former warehouse are faced with natural stone. There is a park around it, in the layout of which the tracks of the railway tracks were also used.
Museum exhibits such as steam engines, machine tools and steam hammers highlight the lightness and transparency of the new building.
Unfortunately, the sea view of the £ 30 million museum complex is completely obscured by the buildings of the 70s of the last century. But the architects, they said, did everything they could and hope for the quick demolition of this unattractive residential area. At the same time, we can talk about the folding of the ensemble of buildings "Wilkinson Air" in this area of Swansea: nearby is the Swansea Sail Bridge, designed by them.
