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Inside the future home of the New Museum of London
New Museum of London, West Smithfield
Sir Horace Jones (1883) and T P Bennett and Son (1963) New Museum of London scheme: Stanton Williams Architects Asif Khan Julian and Harrap Architects
In 2016, Stanton Williams and Asif Khan, working together with conservation architect Julian Harrap and landscape design consultants J&L Gibbons, were the winners of an international competition to find an architect to design the new Museum of London. The team was selected for their “innovative thinking, sensitivity to the heritage of the existing market buildings and understanding of practicalities of creating a great museum experience”.
The vision for the new Museum of London balances a crisp and contemporary design with a strong recognition of the physicality and power of the existing spaces of the West Smithfield site. The early stage concept includes a new lifted landmark dome which would create a beautiful light-filled entrance to the museum; innovative spiral escalators will transport visitors down to the exhibition galleries in a vast excavated underground chamber; flexible spaces are included that can serve as a new meeting place for London; and a centre for events and debate and a new sunken garden and green spaces to provide pockets of tranquillity.
Stanton Williams and Asif Khan are now working closely with the team at the Museum of London and the museum’s stakeholders including the GLA, City of London Corporation and the local Smithfield community to develop their initial concepts into a fully-formed vision for the new museum at West Smithfield.
Paul Williams, Director of Stanton Williams, said: “We are immensely excited about being given the opportunity to work with the Museum of London on this wonderfully challenging project – participating in an endeavour that will transform an area of London that has such a rich history, but sadly has been in decline for many years. Encountering the historic market spaces for the first time ... we were ‘blown away’ by the power and physicality already existing, and knew then, that whatever scheme we developed, this physicality needed to be harnessed, and not lost, and that initial observation has inspired our initial design proposals. This project will engage a broad community well beyond London.”
Asif Khan said: “To have a chance to create a new museum for London, in London, about London, at this moment in time is incredibly exciting for us. We all know the power of public spaces in changing our city and our individual lives, and this is what drives us. We want the Museum of London to be a museum where everyone belongs, and where the future of London is created.”
[Open House London]
Taken as part of Open House London 2019
In 1860 the City of London obtained an Act of Parliament (The Metropolitan Meat and Poultry Market Act of 1860), allowing the construction of new buildings on the Smithfield site. Work began in 1866 on the two main sections of the market, the East and West Buildings. These buildings were built above railway lines which had newly connected London to every other part of the country, enabling meat to be delivered directly to the market.
The buildings, designed by City Architect Sir Horace Jones, were commissioned in 1866 and completed in November 1868 at a cost of £993,816. The Metropolitan Meat and Poultry Act also authorised the development of the Poultry Market which opened in 1875. This building was subsequently destroyed by a major fire in 1958 and was replaced by the current building in 1962. Further buildings were added to the market in later years, the General Market in 1883 and the Annexe Market in 1888.
[City of London]
Replace
Inside the future home of the New Museum of London
New Museum of London, West Smithfield
Sir Horace Jones (1883) and T P Bennett and Son (1963) New Museum of London scheme: Stanton Williams Architects Asif Khan Julian and Harrap Architects
In 2016, Stanton Williams and Asif Khan, working together with conservation architect Julian Harrap and landscape design consultants J&L Gibbons, were the winners of an international competition to find an architect to design the new Museum of London. The team was selected for their “innovative thinking, sensitivity to the heritage of the existing market buildings and understanding of practicalities of creating a great museum experience”.
The vision for the new Museum of London balances a crisp and contemporary design with a strong recognition of the physicality and power of the existing spaces of the West Smithfield site. The early stage concept includes a new lifted landmark dome which would create a beautiful light-filled entrance to the museum; innovative spiral escalators will transport visitors down to the exhibition galleries in a vast excavated underground chamber; flexible spaces are included that can serve as a new meeting place for London; and a centre for events and debate and a new sunken garden and green spaces to provide pockets of tranquillity.
Stanton Williams and Asif Khan are now working closely with the team at the Museum of London and the museum’s stakeholders including the GLA, City of London Corporation and the local Smithfield community to develop their initial concepts into a fully-formed vision for the new museum at West Smithfield.
Paul Williams, Director of Stanton Williams, said: “We are immensely excited about being given the opportunity to work with the Museum of London on this wonderfully challenging project – participating in an endeavour that will transform an area of London that has such a rich history, but sadly has been in decline for many years. Encountering the historic market spaces for the first time ... we were ‘blown away’ by the power and physicality already existing, and knew then, that whatever scheme we developed, this physicality needed to be harnessed, and not lost, and that initial observation has inspired our initial design proposals. This project will engage a broad community well beyond London.”
Asif Khan said: “To have a chance to create a new museum for London, in London, about London, at this moment in time is incredibly exciting for us. We all know the power of public spaces in changing our city and our individual lives, and this is what drives us. We want the Museum of London to be a museum where everyone belongs, and where the future of London is created.”
[Open House London]
Taken as part of Open House London 2019
In 1860 the City of London obtained an Act of Parliament (The Metropolitan Meat and Poultry Market Act of 1860), allowing the construction of new buildings on the Smithfield site. Work began in 1866 on the two main sections of the market, the East and West Buildings. These buildings were built above railway lines which had newly connected London to every other part of the country, enabling meat to be delivered directly to the market.
The buildings, designed by City Architect Sir Horace Jones, were commissioned in 1866 and completed in November 1868 at a cost of £993,816. The Metropolitan Meat and Poultry Act also authorised the development of the Poultry Market which opened in 1875. This building was subsequently destroyed by a major fire in 1958 and was replaced by the current building in 1962. Further buildings were added to the market in later years, the General Market in 1883 and the Annexe Market in 1888.
[City of London]