028
Right The LMVH Great Room, with its freeform new design, represents the crowning glory of the gallery’s new look
PROJECT 1
The Courtauld Gallery, Somerset House, London
Following Nissen Richards Studio’s redevelopment, The Courtauld Gallery now guides visitors using unique colour schemes and design that blends contemporary and historic aesthetics
THE COURTAULD GALLERY has re-opened after the biggest redevelopment since it first moved to its magnificent 18th-century home, Grade I-listed Somerset House in the Strand, in 1989. Architect and designer Nissen Richards Studio was charged with the interpretation of the new visitor experience for the project, considering the entirety of the visitor journey from arrival, through all three levels of gallery space, culminating in the extraordinary LMVH Great Room. The remit included the scheme’s gallery and exhibition design – including a brand-new interior colour scheme; bespoke visitor furniture and artwork showcase design, as well as the project’s wayfinding and signage. The design team also worked closely with its key partners to deliver a scheme that has had incredible attention to detail put into it, as well as overcoming some major challenges. ‘Designing a visitor experience is like a complex puzzle, where we need to spend some time breaking down all the component parts and then putting them back together so that there is a coherence,’ explains Pippa Nissen, director of Nissen Richards Studio. ‘We spent some time looking at best practice and benchmarking on our own and together with the client, including a study trip to Paris. This was an opportunity to tour other venues such as the Louvre, and other similar, traditional historic town house galleries that displayed paintings in an intimate way, looking as a group, including the client, at what worked and what didn’t work so well. We took this information back to our studio and worked through the details.’
Nissen Richards Studio’s approach began with a consideration of the physical aspects of the environment, including the complexity
WORDS BY EMILY MARTIN
IMAGES BY GARETH GARDNER
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129
