Casson Mann displays Churchill job

Casson Mann is presenting first concepts this week for the Churchill Museum, which is set to open in January 2005 as an extension to the Cabinet War Rooms in central London.

The museum will explore and celebrate every aspect of Churchill’s life and the group is working with client, the Cabinet War Rooms, to develop the museum’s content, including the selection of display objects from the Churchill archive in Cambridge.

‘One of the challenges is how to present the wealth of documents around Churchill in a way that will prompt thought and debate,’ says Cabinet War Rooms director Phil Reed. Most are too fragile to display in their original form.

Casson Mann director Dinah Casson says, ‘We want to talk about the person behind the iconic figure.’ The fact Churchill won last year’s BBC’s Greatest Briton poll ‘helps’, and visitors will be ‘interested to know why,’ she adds.

The exhibition will be housed in a space added to the Cabinet War Rooms, which was previously a Treasury archive, says Reed. ‘The space is very challenging. It’s a parquet-covered square interrupted every 90 centimetres by brick pillars and every three metres by red upright girders,’ he says.

The group has been developing concepts, which include interactive and 3D elements, since its appointment at the beginning of May. Early scheme development is scheduled to start next week.

Casson Mann director Roger Mann is leading the project with associate Jon Williams and senior designer John Pickford. The group was appointed after being selected from a long list of around 40 groups to go head-to-head with an unnamed consultancy.