Garden Museum Ideas Competition

The Brief

The Garden Museum, established in 1977, is the only museum in the UK dedicated to Gardening. The home of the museum is the repurposed Grade II*-listed former St Mary’s Church, on the south bank of the Thames. The building sits next to the Grade I-listed Lambeth Palace and the Grade II-listed Lambeth Bridge. In 2017 an extension to the museum was completed by the talented Dow Jones Architects along with the renowned landscape designer Dan Pearson.

The Museum recently put together an ideas competition for the design of a new landmark pavilion serving as a gateway to the museum. This building will be part of a TfL regeneration scheme to green Lambeth Embankment and the surrounding areas, creating a new 2.14ha park designed by Dan Pearson Studio. The scheme will involve a reworking of the road network to make it easier for pedestrians and cyclists using the busy Lambeth Road.

Context

Our Ideas

At Arctic Associates we were pleased to use this as an opportunity to test out our design skills by responding to a unique brief. Our team members Carl and Abre each submitted a design responding to the brief and the place.

The Red Gates

  • The new entrance to the Garden Museum has been designed to bring people together in its form, use and creation. The pavilion takes its inspiration from historic church lych gates, forming an embracing crescent to welcome in visitors, as well as creating a new public exhibition space.

  • The pavilion is designed around simple structural units which serve as a covered gateway into the Museum. Functional spaces for volunteers are lined with built-in seating formed in terracotta, to allow visitors enjoy the new exhibition space and the revamped Lambeth Green.

  • The red gates was designed to bring the community together in the co-design and creation of terracotta tiles that hang on the face of the gable ends of the structure. Designs of the tiles reference the craft heritage of the area, which served as a home base for the ceramic and home accessories manufacturer Royal Doulton for over 100 years.

Unity Pavillion

  • The Lambeth Green Unity Pavilion explores several motions with one underlying theme, unification. The main influence behind this proposal is the River Thames. Given the proximity to the River and the undervalued importance of water for life to thrive, the Unity Pavilion is an expression of a continuous flow, infinite possibilities and connectivity.

  • Its proposed construction incorporates a balance of timber, brick, terracotta, stone and copper, each selected for their particular authentic allure and ability to complement one another in their rawest forms. Every component of the pavilion offers a sensory experience; the walls and canopy rise and fall to create spaces that the public can mount and utilise as furniture. A central feature fountain, slotted timber partitions and perforated brick walls ensure water and light are a constant focus.

     

  • The Unity Pavilion is carefully considered and designed to serve as a gateway for the Garden Museum as well as a refuge for its maintenance team. The pavilion is sculpted in one continuous flowing element, forming a canopy, and defining spaces for the public to linger and celebrating water and light. Ultimately highlighting the importance of the elements that make the Garden Museum a possibility.  

And the winners is…..

The Garden Museum recently announced the six teams shortlisted to continue to the next phase of the design competition, where they will develop their designs for the next round of judging. The shortlisted architects are Mary Duggan Architects, Charles Holland Architects, Roz Barr Architects, Cooke Fawcett Architects and a collaboration between Bartlett graduates Adrian Yankee Siu and Shi Qi Kiki Tu.