Allies and Morrison sheds some light on their contribution for the development of the new design museum opening on the 24th November 2016.
The collaborators behind the revival of the listed Modernist building by Johnson-Marshall and Partners in Kensington were Allies and Morrison, OMA, John Pawson, West 8 and Arup.
Allies and Morrison redesigned the building’s façades to allow natural light into the interior while improving energy performance. The building’s distinctive parabolic concrete roof was restored and the interior spaces reworked to make for a more open and public building.
John Pawson has created a series of exhibition spaces that provide a restrained and subtle backdrop for the Design Museum’s exhibition programme. The Design Musem’s listed roof and primary supports were retained and strengthened. A significant new basement space was also created as part of the new design. This enabled the existing internal structure to be re-configured.
The wider site features three new residential buildings, the hollandgreen development, designed by OMA and Allies and Morrison set within a landscape by West 8.
‘This is a milestone project in the refurbishment of a piece of 20th-century architectural history’, says Allies & Morrison partner Simon Fraser.
‘We relished the chance to update the building for the purposes of accommodating a 21st-century Design Museum. It afforded us the opportunity to deepen unique skills in the re-adaptation of Modernist landmarks for new uses and audiences’.
The process of restoring the building draws on the practice’s particular abilities in the redevelopment of 20th-century architectural listed buildings. Many of the same architects who worked on the Royal Festival Hall renovation worked on this project, applying their unique knowledge in this different context.
Source: Allies and Morrison www.alliesandmorrison.com