Architects Carmody Groarke have been appointed as the design team responsible for the creation of the Museum of Science and Industry’s brand new Special Exhibitions Gallery, due to open in 2018. The project will transform the vaults of the museum’s historic viaduct and 1830 Warehouse into a venue for world-class science exhibitions.
This flagship gallery will be located in the most historically significant part of the museum site – the 1830 complex. This comprises of the brick vaulted arches of the 1830 viaduct, the oldest surviving passenger railway station and the world’s first railway warehouse. HM Treasury and the Wellcome Trust’s Capital Awards Scheme have pledged significant funding towards the creation of the Special Exhibitions Gallery.
The Carmody Groarke team impressed the selection panel, led by museum Director Sally MacDonald, with a combination of a truly imaginative design and evident passion and respect for the museum’s historic site. Their plans propose a new ramped entrance and the creation of a beautiful double height entrance space.
The creation of the new Special Exhibitions Gallery forms part of longer term and ambitious plans to transform the museum over the next decade, bringing to life the story of its historic site and developing its role as the northern home for contemporary science engagement.
Carmody Groarke will work together with structural engineers, Price & Myers and building services engineers Skelly & Couch.
The Museum’s Director Sally MacDonald comments: “We are really thrilled to have Carmody Groarke on board. Their proposal was simple and stunning, and they demonstrated that they are keen to listen and work with us to design a gallery that is both beautiful and practical. They have experience of working on historic sites – a new gallery at the RIBA headquarters, and their work for the Rothschild Foundation and Lakeland Arts – really set their proposals apart. We can’t wait to start working with them.’
Andy Groarke, Co-Director of Carmody Groarke says, “We are delighted to be working on a project that forms a central part of the Museum’s masterplan, which will play an important part in the proposals for Manchester’s evolving city-scape. The ambition for the gallery is to expand the Museum’s opportunities to display temporary exhibitions and to also improve the setting of some of the city’s most important buildings from the industrial age.”
