The Clyde Auditorium viewed from across the Clyde.

The Clyde Auditorium

The facade of the Clyde Auditorium.

The Clyde Auditorium depicted as the "Springfield Opera House" in a Simpsons television promotion

The Clyde Auditorium, familiarly known as "The Armadillo", is an iconic concert venue in Glasgow, Scotland. The building sits on the site of the now infilled Queen's Dock on the River Clyde, adjacent to the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre.

Plans for a new building to increase the capacity of the SECC complex were initiated in 1995. Designed by award-winning architects Foster and Partners, the 3,000 seat venue was completed in 1997, by which time it had earned its affectionate nickname due to the similarity of its shape to that of the animal of the same name. Many comparisons have been made with the Sydney Opera House, although this was not the architects' inspiration for the design, which was in fact an interlocking series of ship's hulls, in reference to the Clyde's shipbuilding heritage.

The building has quickly become one of the most recognisable on Clydeside and one of the images most associated with modern Glasgow. Its success has led to planning for a third venue on the complex, with the tentative title "Scotland's National Arena".

It is connected to the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre and the Crowne Plaza for easy access and exit for high profile performers.

The facade of the Clyde Auditorium was a venue featured in a promotional video for the animated sitcom The Simpsons, which parodies the famous Susan Boyle audition for Britain's Got Talent in January 2009.^[1]

The building held the Scottish auditions of Britain's Got Talent and the auditions for series 1 - 4 of The X Factor.

[edit] References

[edit] See also

• Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre

[edit] External links

• SECC web site
• Photographs of the (Armadillo) Clyde Auditorium in Glasgow
• Queen's Dock regeneration project

Coordinates: 55°51′34″N 4°17′17″W / 55.859496°N 4.287962°W / 55.859496; -4.287962