hackneyed nostalgia-led approach with picket fences or twee cottages. It’s about going deeper, and raising a sense of place out of the place we already have. Tankfully, everyone we’ve worked with has understood that opportunity, and the challenge. I’m also a sucker for a narrative-led
approach. I’m interested in design that takes inspiration from our collection and reinvents it in a new style for a new audience. I’m a Medievalist by training, and everything in a Medieval cathedral is very intentional. So I like design teams and architects to explain why they’ve chosen the direction they’re presenting – not just that it’s pretty. It’s great to be able to bounce ideas back and forth with designers too in those early stages – they’re such a fun part of the process. So having a team that can take challenge, and challenge back, is something I relish.
What was the design concept for Wonderlab? We worked with De Matos Ryan to take inspiration directly from the former engineering workshop space. Tey were inspired by bits of old boiler and curved metal cylinders, which
I’m a sucker for a narrative-led approach. I’m interested in design that takes inspiration from our collection and reinvents it in a new style for a new audience
they supersized to turn into the core big moves of the gallery and house the crucial functions we needed them to. I really fought to appoint the graphic designers, LucienneRoberts+, who did one of the best graphics tenders I’ve ever seen. Like the architects, they really paid attention to the sense of place of the site, poring over our archives and railway iconography and transforming that into modern shapes and lines with fresh colours. We were quite formal about how we applied colour – yellow is only used for interpretation, while sage green was for any
metal infrastructure. Other materials such as the timber cladding were chosen to soften the breeze block walls, which we couldn’t afford to paint (too huge).
What do you like most about the result? Personally, I love that the history of the space as a workshop is still there when you look – in the patched terrazzo floor, the crane, the wheel drop and the old levelling table that we now use for a demo bar. I also love that it feels designed for everyone. It has a scale that feels human and huge, and both a history and a freshness that can speak to any age, gender or experience.
What are the particular challenges of working with the museum’s historic properties? Tat everything is end of life or failing! Chronic under investment in our estate has meant that almost all our roofs are end of life, as well as our heating and lighting systems. We’re safe to enter, but to really protect us for the future we need to prioritise these things, and Station Hall is one of many roofs that we’ve fixed over the past five to six years. Our latest challenge is that some of the tracks in our Great Hall have shown
PHOTO: JODY KINGZETT AND SCIENCE MUSEUM GROUP
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
