Design Museum plans expansion via Lottery

The Design Museum is to apply for cash from the Arts Council Lottery Fund towards a major extension and interiors revamp planned for 1998.

A 1000m2 third floor is planned, increasing the museum’s size by a third. Three design proposals have been submitted and a feasibility study is underway.

The museum will not reveal who the designers of the proposals are, but describes them as architectural practices. A spokeswoman says they are three “totally different practices at different ends of the budget scale”. Each has been paid a nominal fee.

The museum’s interiors will be revamped and rearranged to include a new gallery of contemporary design and architecture, an education centre, a library and more temporary exhibition space.

“We want to incorporate more architectural models and drawings,” says the spokeswoman.

She is unable to comment about the details of the project’s management. “We may choose one of the three practices to mastermind everything, such as appointment of graphic designers, or we may do this ourselves. It is not even being discussed at the moment.”

The museum hopes to apply for Lottery funding once the feasibility study takes place, but cannot give a date. “We hope to have the building work on site by late 1998,” adds the spokeswoman. Architect Stanton Williams designed the seven-year-old museum.