© Tony Fretton Architects . Pubblicata il 13 Aprile 2011.

Tony Fretton Architects was invited by the V&A to submit a design for the Boilerhouse Yard, the last undeveloped courtyard in the museum, and the site of the Boilerhouse Project, which subsequently became the Design Museum. Our proposal envisages a new entrance courtyard in exhibition road, and a new flexible exhibition space below the courtyard.

© Tony Fretton Architects . Pubblicata il 13 Aprile 2011.

The existing gated entrance is replaced with a courtyard that is an extension of the new landscaped public space of Exhibition Road. A colonnade around the courtyard provides a south facing outdoor cafe, and a covered entrance to the Museum and Sackler centre.

The exhibition space can be configured with partitions differently for every exhibition. The foyer gives a range of different places to enter and leave exhibitions.

An important consideration was how the courtyard and exhibition space could take their places among the rooms in the museum: The entrance sequence from Exhibition Road leads to the heart of the Museum in a way that is easily understood but which preserves the quality of discovery that is intrinsic to the V&A.

Galleries that have served so far as temporary exhibition space are released for the permanent collection.