Project Overview

The Design Museum opens in its new home on Kensington High Street, west London. Housed in a landmark grade II* listed modernist building from the 1960s that has been sensitively retuned by John Pawson, the project is the culmination of a five-year construction process. The museum has now tripled to 10,000sqm from its previous premise in Shad Thames, south-east London.

The new building includes two major temporary gallery spaces, a free permanent collection display, a restaurant overlooking Holland Park, auditorium, studios, library, archive and new learning facilities.

Organisation

Chelsfield and Ilchester Estates and the Design Museum

Team

Architecture and Design:
OMA, Allies and Morrison, John Pawson
Contractor: Mace
Structural Engineer: Arup Structures
Services Engineer: Arup Services
Facades: Arup Facades, FMDC
Fire: Arup Fire
Acoustics: Arup Acoustics
Landscape: West8
Quantity Surveyor: Aecom

Project Brief

OMA, Allies and Morrison and Arup have restored the building’s spectacular concrete roof and distinctive facade. Remodelling the interior, John Pawson has created a series of calm, atmospheric spaces ordered around an oak-lined atrium, incorporating key elements from the original structure. The project has seen some of the world’s leading designers, manufacturers and patrons come together to create a new global hub for contemporary design.

With architectural and structural expertise from OMA, Allies and Morrison and Arup, a permanent collection display designed by Studio Myerscough, a restaurant and members’ room by Universal Design Studio, a Centre for Learning made possible by the Swarovski Foundation, flooring by Dinesen, furniture by Vitra, shelving by Vitsoe, lighting by Concord, a visual identity by Studio Fernando Gutierrez and way-finding by Cartlidge Levene, the new Design Museum is an outstanding example of interdisciplinary collaboration.

In 2010 a partnership formed by Chelsfield and the Ilchester Estate to redevelop the site was granted planning permission by the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea for the construction of three residential building and the refurbishment of the Grade II* listed building located at the centre of the site.

Project Innovation/Need

The complex renovation of the museum saw OMA led by Reinier de Graaf,Allies and Morrison, Arup and John Pawson work together to bring this landmark of post-war British architecture back into use.

Using radical engineering techniques, the original concrete floors were removed–a process that entailed propping the roof on a temporary steel structure20 metres above the ground. The original façade has been replaced with a double glazed skin, significantly improving insulation standards and allowing daylight into the interior.

The new exterior has been meticulously detailed to resemble the original blue skin of the building, with matching mullions and a fritted pattern of printed dots. A new public plaza complete with fountains has been installed at the entrance to the museum, within a landscape designed by West 8.

Inside the museum, visitors find themselves in a central atrium with striking views up to the iconic hyperbolic paraboloid roof. The stunning concrete roof spans the length of the building, rising on the two opposing corners to create a manta ray-like structure above.

Galleries, learning spaces, café, vents space and a shop are arranged like an opencast mine around the main atrium, allowing visitors to navigate the space with ease and to discover everything the building has to offer by simply walking up its oak staircases.

Design Challenge

Expected to attract 650,000 visitors in its first year, the Design Museum combines architecture, product design, technology, graphics and fashion to investigate the form, function and meaning of the world around us.