In-house museum team deserves proper credit

I have just read your news piece on the merger of “museum design specialists” Austin: Smith-Lord and TPS Dangerfield (DW 16 April) and feel I need to put the record straight about who has designed what at the newly refurbished National Museum of Photography, Film & Television in Bradford.

ASL was the architect which designed the structure of the new building, including the spectacular curved glass facade. But, the museum’s in-house design team has done all the “museum design” and turned it into a living museum, using exciting and informative displays and exhibits.

The terms “museum design” and “design of a museum” are two completely different things as my colleagues at the Museum & Exhibition Design Group would agree.

A previous article, Frontier spirit (DW 5 March), was also misleading in that it implied the bulk of the design work had been carried out by MET Studio. In fact, MET Studio has worked exclusively on the new Wired Worlds Gallery.The other seven new galleries, as well as the museum’s new corporate identity, internal signage, and numerous interactive multimedia displays, have been designed by the in-house team.

The NMPFT is one of the few major museums willing to entrust a project of this scale and importance to its in-house designers, and it is a pity that this fact has not been recognised in your publication.

Imelda Kay

Head of design

National Museum of Science and Industry/ National Museum of Photography, Film & Television

i.kay@nmsi.ac.uk