£20 million interiors work on new Design Museum begins

Work on the Design Museum’s new interiors has begun, and will see designs from architect John Pawson implemented.

The £20 million project is part of the museum’s £80 million move to a new home in Kensington, which will see it triple in size and offer free entry to its permanent collection exhibition.

The museum’s new base will be at the former Commonwealth Institute in Holland Park, a listed building, after the developers of the site donated the building, land and cost of basic structural refurbishment.

Fit-out company Willmott Dixon Interiors is installing the new museum’s designs, which will include two temporary exhibition spaces, a permanent collection display, learning spaces, design workshops, a library, auditorium, museum shop, café and restaurant.

The project has received more than £43 million in funding contributions from foundations such as Arts Council England, the Heritage Lottery Fund and Sir Terence Conran, and individual donors and corporate partners.

Design Museum director Deyan Sudjic hopes the move will help to “transform the building into a museum for the twenty-first century.”

The museum is set to open in late 2016 and is expected to attract more than 500,000 visitors a year.