Article: David Styles | Image: © Christopher Ison
Pallant House Gallery has appointed Wright & Wright Architects to create a new collections centre and improve the visitor experience at its site in Chichester.
Having recently acquired a 19th century Coach House, Pallant House Gallery is now aiming to collaborate with Wright & Wright Architects in order to improve and expand its facilities whilst also providing greater accessibility for visitors and staff alike.
The architects’ brief is to create a new collections centre in the Coach House that will better preserve the gallery’s collection of Modern British art. Establishing new learning, gallery and back of house spaces along with improving the site’s sustainability credentials also form key goals for the four-year scheme.
“With such significant existing historic and modern architecture at the heart of a beautiful conservation area, we felt that Wright & Wright were the best practice to develop bold plans that will be sensitive and thoughtful, enabling us to better serve the needs of our diverse audiences and community, and to better care for and present our internationally-significant collection,” Simon Martin, director of Pallant House Gallery, stated.
The architecture firm have led projects for various cultural institutions, including at the Museum of the Home which is set to re-open later this year.
In addition to Wright & Wright, appointments on the project include Focus Consultants to project manage the capital; Artelia as Quantity Surveyors; Alan Baxter & Associates as Heritage Consultants to produce a Statement of Significance and Conservation Management Plan; and Cultural Consulting Network to support with Audience Development and Interpretation.
The Pallant House Gallery project is due to get underway later this year and is expected to be completed in 2024.