British Museum's Forecourt Redesign Slammed by Conservation Groups

"The leading London museum has planned to install two security pavilions to replace its temporary anti-terrorism marquees and convert its front lawn into a "Mediterranean"-style botanical garden. These changes, spearheaded by the London-based architectural practice Studio Weave, are part of a larger "Masterplan" renovation of the museum. The new "visitor flow will drastically reduce queuing at both entrances," the studio promised, when its final design was made public last fall."

""The proposed pavilion would partially obscure views" of the building's southern facade, it said in a January 27 public objection letter, "disrupting the building's symmetry and undermining its setting." The planning application for Studio Weave's design noted that the pavilions will be clad in stone and steel. They are intended to be less of an intrusive presence than the white plastic marquees that they would replace."

Studio Weave proposes two stone-and-steel security pavilions to replace temporary anti-terror marquees and a Mediterranean-style botanical garden on the British Museum's front lawn to improve visitor flow. The scheme forms part of a wider Masterplan intended to reduce queuing at both entrances. The planning application states the pavilions aim to be less intrusive than the existing white plastic marquees. The Georgian Group urges Camden Council to reject the proposal, saying the pavilion would partially obscure the southern façade, disrupt the building's 19th-century classical symmetry, and render the formal forecourt visually incongruous. Historic England considers the scheme to deliver significant improvements.

Read at Artnet News