13 fantastic photos of the Sainsbury Centre as it celebrates 40 years of success

NNF15. The Voice Project perform The Observatory at the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts. Photo: JMA Photography. (Image: JMA Photography)

Hundreds of thousands of people have visited the striking building, from the Queen, who dropped by in 2017 to enjoy a cultural tour of Fiji, to the cast of Marvel's Avengers: Age of Ultron, who made the building their superhero headquarters in 2015.

Got a spectacular Autumnal view today from the Modern Life Café in Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts at UEA. Photo: Patrick Gunning/citizenside.com (Image: (c) copyright citizenside.com)

The gallery has also played host to BBC Antiques Roadshow and is set to make another appearance in the upcoming blockbuster Avengers: Infinity War, due to hit cinemas on April 27.

The Queen unveils a plaque marking her visit to the Fiji Exhibition at the Sainsbury Centre. Picture: DENISE BRADLEY (Image: Archant)

READ MORE: From royal visits to becoming Avengers HQ: Sainsbury Centre celebrates 40 years of successBuilt between 1974 and 1976, the gallery is home to various permanent and temporary collections, as well as a study area, restaurant and coffee shop.

SCVA - Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts at the UEA - University of East Anglia.Picture: ANTONY KELLY (Image: Archant Norfolk 2016)

To mark its 40th birthday, a new exhibition called SUPERSTRUCTURES: The New Architecture 1960-1990 which examines developments in architecture, is being launched. The exhibition will run until September 2.

The Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts. Picture: Foster + Partners/ Ken Kirkwood (Image: Archant)

In a statement on UEA's website, Paul Greenhalgh, Director of the Sainsbury Centre, said: 'It is a real joy to work inside a masterpiece, alongside hundreds of masterpieces. The main gallery, called the Living Area, is my favourite part of the building, though the wonderful corridor in the crescent wing, is an architectural poem in its own right.'

The Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts being built in the late 1970s. Picture: UEA Art History Photographic Collection (Image: Archant)

• What do you like about the Sainsbury Centre? Let us know in the comments below.

The Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts. Picture: Foster + Partners/ Ken Kirkwood (Image: Archant)

Jane Pavitt, co-curator of the exhibition SuperStructures: The New Architecture 1960 - 1990, stands above the exhibition space at the Sainsbury Centre. Picture: DENISE BRADLEY (Image: Copyright: Archant 2018)

The model of Tatlin’s Tower, an architectural project of Russia’s Soviet era which was never built, at the Sainsbury Centre and marks the centenary of the Russian Revolution. Picture: DENISE BRADLEY (Image: Archant)

Henry Moore's 'Draped Reclining Woman' of 1957-8 overlooks the west end of Sir Norman Foster's iconic Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts. Photo: Bill Smith (Image: Archant © 2011)

Film crews at the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts on the University of East Anglia campus setting up for the Avengers: Age of Ultron movie. Picture: www.EnjoyNorwich.com (Image: Archant)

NNF15. The Voice Project perform The Observatory at the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts. Photo: JMA Photography. (Image: JMA Photography)