Mary Duggan completes versatile occasions area inside London’s Science Museum

Gauzy white curtains and subtly patterned flooring assist organise the structure of this occasions area, created by architect Mary Duggan for the Science Museum in London.

Occupying the fifth and sixth flooring of the Science Museum’s constructing in South Kensington, the two-room facility is designed as an “ever-changing theatre of exercise”.

For the reason that 1980s these rooms had been used as galleries devoted to the historical past of medication, with little or no pure gentle.

To make them extra appropriate for internet hosting occasions, Mary Duggan and her group centered on eliminating the “black field” look.

“Our method to the design of the constructing has been one directed by a powerful motivation to create visually and spatially distinctive inside environments, with the pliability to offer for the wants of any consumer,” defined Duggan.

“Such a quick might simply default to a numb definition, an area outlined solely by the parameters of the purposeful components,” she continued, “so it was essential that we created an area with its personal identification.”

Every ground is now cut up right into a “served” zone that accommodates guests and a “service” zone that accommodates ancillary features, that are hidden behind pale partition partitions. They’re linked by way of a brand new, all-white staircase with a steel handrail.

Gray resin flooring within the guests’ space is printed with large overlapping circles, meant to emulate the geometric color experimentations that American-German artist Josef Albers produced in his 1963 e book Interplay of Color.

The patterns on the flooring additionally function visible markers for a way seating could be organized throughout occasions.

Sheer white curtains set on tracks that wind throughout the ceiling could be drawn to create separation between totally different components of the rooms when required.

That is loosely impressed by Cafe Samt & Seide – an exhibition stand that architect Mies van der Rohe and his collaborator Lilly Reich created for a German material firm in 1927, which featured a sequence of coloured-silk hanging partitions.

To make the area appear extra spacious, the studio selected to open up the false ceiling and reveal a community of service pipes beneath. A big window additionally punctuates the entrance elevation, flooding the interiors with pure gentle and providing views throughout the rooftops of central London.

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“Every room converts right into a sequence of areas to serve a number of occupation typologies, some but to be found,” added Duggan.

Mary Duggan based her studio in east London in 2017, after leaving the now-defunct Duggan Morris Architects. This is among the observe’s first accomplished tasks.

It’s one among a number of latest interventions to the Science Museum by notable architects. In 2016, Zaha Hadid Architects accomplished a brand new arithmetic gallery for the constructing, which emulates the form of a wind tunnel in a 1920s aircraft.

That 12 months additionally noticed Coffey Architects add a perforated facade to the museum’s library, and Muf create an interactive gallery that features playground slides and a large mannequin of the photo voltaic system.

Pictures is by Simone Bossi.

Challenge credit:

Architect: Mary Duggan Architects
Amount surveyor: Gardiner & Theobald
Structural & civils: Arup
MEP/Sustainability: Arup
Acoustics: Sandi Brown