The Science Museum in South Kensington, London was founded in 1857 and is highly regarded to this day for its awe-inspiring galleries, historic collections and inspirational exhibitions. Thousands of visitors from around the world flock to the museum every year and it plays an important part in preserving the history, science and culture of the world.

The museum is consistently evolving to keep up with the needs of visitors and researchers, and over the next couple of years this will involve the creation of more learning zones, improved visitor facilities, and public spaces which will improve upon the whole experience. Research is an important aspect of safeguarding and developing the current collections whilst also improving understanding for all audiences.

Coffey Architects were chosen to create the design for the new research centre within the Science Museum’s Wellcome Wolfson Building, scheduled to open in the autumn of 2015. This new centre will provide an environment for academic research and bring the Research and Public History Department together with access to the museum’s library and archive collections. We’re proud to say that our architectural design has been chosen for the new building.

Our design is specifically created to enable a new level of integration between the research and exhibitions within the museum itself. The space will have an individual identity which can be fully enjoyed by casual users, professional researchers and academics alike, and will contain a combination of offices, open shelving, and quiet areas for reading and study.

The idea behind the design was to recreate the calm, reflective feeling of sitting underneath a tree on a summer’s day, and includes a canopy which will allow natural light and ideal acoustic conditions for study.