Image: Aerial image of the BM © The Trustees of the British Museum
The museum’s International Architectural Competition attracted over 60 applications from across the world
The British Museum has announced its shortlist of five architect-led consultant teams that will compete in the second stage of its International Architectural Competition.
The winning team will embark on what the museum says is among “the most significant cultural renovation projects in the world”, the reimagining of The Western Range, which houses over a third of the gallery space.
The complex of buildings range in age from the original 1850s buildings designed by Robert Smirke, to later additions such as Gallery 10 and 22.
The museum said all of the buildings are in need of upgrade to meet contemporary building performance standards, and many contain highly significant heritage building fabric.
The shortlisted teams were selected from a list of 60 applicants as part of the first stage.
Five shortlisted teams for the Western Range project
Team 1 :6a Architects
with: Advanced Integrated Solutions, Arup, David Bonnett Associates, Gitta Gschwendtner, Kellenberger-White, London School of Architecture, Purcell,
Studio ZNA
Team 2: David Chipperfield Architects
with: AEA Consulting, Adamson Associates, Alan Baxter Associates, Arup, Atelier Brückner, Atelier Ten, Lobe Lloyd, Julian Harrap Architects, Plan A, Reusefully, Neal Shasore
Team 3: Eric Parry Architects and Jamie Fobert Architects
with: Buro Happold, David Bonnett Associates, Max Fordham, Mima, Price & Myers, Purcell, Space Syntax, Studio ZNA
Team 4: Lina Ghotmeh — Architecture
with: Ali Cherri, Arup, Holmes Studio, Plan A, Purcell
Team 5: OMA
with: Arup, Benoy, Cookies, Ducks Scéno, EQ2 Light, Purcell, Salvatore Settis, Studio ZNA
One of the teams will eventually be selected to work with the museum on the project, but first the competition will see teams participate in a process that includes a day-long public meeting with the museum team, as well as a series of design exercises.
Stage two will run until December 2024, at which point there will be a display of the shortlisted candidates’ entries in the Museum’s Round Reading Room. The outcome of the competition will be announced in early 2025.
The competition has been designed not to allow teams to arrive with a complete plan for the Western Range project. Instead the museum said it wants the shortlisted teams to “demonstrate their ability to envision and lead a collaborative process that responds to the complex needs of multiple stakeholders, both within the Museum and from external groups.”
Applicants will be judged by an expert panel that will comprise ten members, chaired by museum Chair George Osborne. He will be joined by Yvonne Farrell, Meneesha Kellay, Mahrukh Tarapor, and Sarah Younger. Mark Jones and Nicholas Cullinan will also sit on the panel alongside representatives from the British Museum’s Board of Trustees: Tracey Emin, Charlie Mayfield and Alejandro Santo Domingo.
Osborne said: “We asked for the best of the architectural community to step forward to help – and they have, from Britain and across the world. The shortlist we’ve chosen mixes renowned experience with exciting new voices. We couldn’t have asked for more”
Nicholas Cullinan, Director of the British Museum, added: “I’m so impressed by the vision, creativity and sheer number of entries at this first stage of the competition. These five teams have strong resumes and demonstrate the qualities we need for the Western Range project which is both an architectural as well as intellectual transformation of the British Museum.”
