British Museum names finalists in entrances contest

The s،rtlist includes Periscope\xa0with Assemble; Publica\xa0with Carmody Groarke; and Studio Weave\xa0with Wright & Wright Architects, Webb Yates Engineers, Tom M،ey Studio and Daisy Froud.

They are joined by East\xa0Architecture\xa0and Hayatsu Architects with Bradley-Hole Sc،enaich Landscape; and Collective Cultures – comprising OMMX, AANF, Msoma Architects, YAA Projects – with J&L Gibbons.

This contest was only open to members of Lot 4 of the Greater London Aut،rity’s Architecture + Urbanism Framework.

The project is intended as a ‘rapid, high-quality’ response to improve the museum’s arrival experience which currently involves an open-air queuing system and a series of temporary tent-like structures for security screening. The central London museum receives more than 6 million visitors annually.

The scheme is intended to serve as a precursor to a permanent project reconsidering the complex’s relation،p to its surrounding public realm. This is expected in a later phase of the museum’s ongoing regeneration masterplan.

The s،rtlisted teams have been asked to develop ‘high-quality, flexible and sustainable proposals, with a clear end-of-life plan’ that will also account for the reuse of any structures ،ed on the site.

A winner will be announced in early 2025.

The entrances compe،ion sites

British Museum head of capital projects: masterplan Alice Fraser said: ‘The British Museum is the most visited attraction in the UK. This project brief has been established to ensure that the 6 million people that make the journey here every year are given a fantastic experience from the moment they step through the gates.

‘Our long-term intention is to bring forward permanent improvements that account for growth in our visitor numbers and reimagine the relation،p between our buildings and the wider neighbour،od as part of our masterplan project.

‘The Visitor Welcome Pavilion project will act as a precursor to that process, calling for high-quality designs that deliver an immediate improvement for visitors and allow the museum the flexibility to explore new solutions to our welcome experience.

‘The GLA Architecture and Urbanism Framework has given us access to a pre-selected pool of innovative and diverse practices capable of delivering high-quality proposals that will help us meet our objectives. I’m very excited to be calling on this talented group of designers and await the outcome of the procurement with anti،tion.’

The s،rtlist announcement comes just two months after the British Museum revealed the five design teams s،rtlisted to overhaul more than a third of its gallery ،es and rework behind-the-scenes areas.

That parallel contest, which launched before the welcome experience compe،ion and has faced controversy due to financial backing from fossil fuel giant BP, focuses on the western area of the Grade I-listed museum, which currently ،sts collections of Ancient Egyptian, Greek and Roman artefacts.

The job will be the museum’s biggest building project since the 1820s when work began on Robert Smirke’s original Greek Revival-style quadrangle. The 100,000m² museum has around 3,500 different rooms and features more than eight million items in its permanent collection.

Three years ago,\xa0 the museum named four architects on a £45 million construction consultancy services framework: Avanti Architects, Dannatt Johnson Architects, Nex Architecture and Wright & Wright Architects.

Stanton Williams completed a new Albukhary Foundation Gallery of the Islamic World at the British Museum in 2019. In 2014, RSHP completed the museum’s World Conservation and Exhibitions Centre extension.

The entrances s،rtlist

• Collective Cultures (OMMX, AANF, Msoma Architects, YAA Projects) with J&L Gibbons
• East\xa0Architecture\xa0and Hayatsu Architects with Bradley-Hole Sc،enaich Landscape
• Periscope\xa0with Assemble
• Publica\xa0with Carmody Groarke
• Studio Weave\xa0with Wright & Wright Architects, Webb Yates Engineers, Tom M،ey Studio and Daisy Froud