Witold Rybczynski, one of the most fluent and avidly followed writers on architecture is the perfect guide to the remarkable inside story of the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts at the University of East Anglia, created for Sir Robert and Lady Lisa Sainsbury's private collection of paintings, drawings and sculpture. Biography of a Building gives an absorbing account, drawing in all the threads of the buildings history starting with the genesis of the Sainsbury's world-class art collection. The Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts was Norman Fosters first public commission and opened to the public in April 1978.