Design Museum

Newly opened Design Museum on High Street Kensington which has moved from the banks of the Thames in Bermondsey.

The new building is a reworking and a refurbishment of the old Commonwealth Institute which I remember visiting as a child and the architect John Pawson has retained the iconic curved concrete roof which dominated the internal space as well as being beautiful from the outside.

I loved the big space in the middle of the museum and the lovely inclusion of benches on the main staircase giving people a place to sit plus hopefully a space for talks and discussions. The pale wood used throughout is beautiful. The two spaces for special exhibitions are lovely. I liked the way the one on the ground floor wraps round the back of that floor and the one in the basement has lovely tall ceilings and I look forward to the imaginative way in which it could be used.

However it is a shame that the permanent collections feels quite cramped on just one side of the top floor. The display itself is quite narrow and claustrophobic to move around and the narrative is a bit confused.

The middle floor feels like slightly dead space. It houses the library and learning centre but both are contained in the lovely pale wood finish and just appear as doors and are therefore slightly uninviting. I went just before Christmas soon after the museum opened. I am sure once term starts and the learning activities start that this space will feel move alive but at the moment it just feels a bit stolid and unused.

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