Diener & Diener Architekten . Sergison Bates Architects . renders: © ponnie . + malcolm reading
Diener & Diener Architekten with Sergison Bates Architects shortlisted entry in the international design competition for the new museum at West Smithfield.
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The team formed by Sba, Diener & Diener, East Architecture and Graphic Thought Facility was shortlisted in the competition to design a new home for the Museum of London in the historic West Smithfield site. The brief involved transforming the Grade II-listed Victorian complex into a contemporary exhibition space, which would be the focus for the regeneration of the surrounding area.
We proposed restoring the Market’s remarkable silhouette by ‘reconstructing’ the corner tower as a landmark for the new Museum of London. The existing market buildings are treated in a way that goes ‘beyond repair’: surfaces and structures are inscribed with narratives of the past and present and used to bring to life the previous lives of these spaces and to link them with the building’s new purpose as a public institution.
The permanent and temporary exhibitions inhabit the array of subterranean spaces, juxtaposing the museum’s collections and the physicality of the market spaces to create a unique visitor experience. The adjacent Annex Market and the Red House are joined by a new building that gives visibility to the museum’s administration and research centre.
