AOC won the open competition with a ‘kit of parts’ proposal for the existing six storey public atrium that relished and exploited the contradictions in the museum’s brief and budget. A recent rebranding required a new aesthetic. Adjacent developments promised a new customer.
We reinvigorated the Street as a place to dwell by removing its plaster and brass trims to expose the original rough poured concrete. In creating an instant ruin the space acquired the sense of past time familiar in a cathedral or castle. A range of decorative appliques on the concrete, heraldic patterns and motifs in paint and gold leaf, improved wayfinding and intensified the experience. A new welcome was provided by a fixed desk, shaped to support visitor flow and the material qualities of the Armouries collection was introduced through a gold chainmail curtain. With a nod to Scarpa an armoured knight on a horse was cantilevered off the second floor - the first of many proposed collection items to be used to inhabit the space.
