Natural History Museum Civic Realm Competition

The international competition launched in this prospectus offers the opportunity for a re-think of the civic and public setting of the Museum. We invite you to enter the process to deliver an integrated and creative solution that will meet modern expectations and equip the Museum for the long term.

Category Project Competition
Type International, Project, EOI, Open, Two-Stage
Genre Landscape, Museum
Country UK
RegDeadline 28 October 2013 GoogleCal iCal
28 October 2013
Eligibility Multi-disciplinary teams from a wide range of fields, such as landscape design, architecture and engineering to craftspeople, ecology, the arts, interpretation, learning, barrier-free design and gardening.

Description
The Natural History Museum (NHM) is one of the world’s foremost institutions dedicated to the research, interpretation and explanation of the natural world. Sir Alfred Waterhouse’s exuberant building, with its cheerful mix of Romanesque and Gothic features at the heart of the museum quarter in South Kensington, was opened to the public in 1881.
The Trustees of the NHM propose making a number of long-term improvements over the next decade to the Museum through a masterplan framework addressing accessibility, interpretation and visitor engagement. The Civic Realm Competition heralds a key aspect of the masterplan by re-imagining the setting of the building to provide a sustainable plan for access and visitor management.
Despite the building enjoying generous grounds (by far the most extensive open space of any of the museums on Exhibition Road), the building’s relationship to its setting appears awkward. Waterhouse’s original landscape concept was never realised.
The international competition launched in this prospectus offers the opportunity for a re-think of the civic and public setting of the Museum. We invite you to enter the process to deliver an integrated and creative solution that will meet modern expectations and equip the Museum for the long term.
This document comprises the information that will allow teams to submit an Expression of Interest (EOI) so that a shortlist can be established to proceed to the tender stage.

Jury
TBA

Prize
Design commossion
An honorarium of £4,000 will be awarded to each of the unsuccessful shortlisted teams following the selection of the winner.

Entry Fee
None

Timetable
Stage 2 launched: w/c 18th November 2013
Submission of tender responses: early January 2014
Winner announced: mid February 2014

Organizer
Natural History Museum / Malcolm Reading Consultants

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