Mather & Co gets batting on cricket museum brief

Mather & Co is creating a museum for Yorkshire County Cricket Club that will see materials from the game feature in the fabric of the museum’s design.
After winning a four-way pitch in November 2008, the consultancy was given a broad brief to capture the essence of the Yorkshire club.

Due to open next summerin the East Stand at the club’s Headingley Carnegie ground, the museum will launch alongside a new pavilion being designed by architect Alsop. It will be used by the club and Leeds Metropolitan University students.

The club is said to be launching the spaces in a co-ordinated marketing effort.

Inside the exhibition space, ‘title panels will be made of willow, and entrances will feature red leather with cricket-ball stitching’, says Mather & Co director Chris Mather.

The museum will have a film-viewing theatre decorated with cricket sight screens.

A timeline will document the history of the club, and a practice net used by Yorkshire players will be erected in the space for children to use to improve their cricketing skills.

One display allows visitors to explore the history of the club through its cricket bats. A touch-screen terminal positioned next to a cabinet of bats will encourage users to find out more. The digital display will show a carousel of bats. When one is selected it will ‘drop into shot’ and reveal information about its physical properties and the player who used it.

A collection of archive material will also be available for viewing. ‘There’ll be classic interviews with Geoff Boycott, Fred Trueman and other people associated with the club,’ says Mather.