Redman Design works on galleries for The National Museum of the Royal Navy

Yorkshire-based consultancy Redman Design is working on exhibition design and interpretation for The National Museum of the Royal Navy in Portsmouth, which was awarded a £1.4m Heritage Lottery Fund grant at the end of last month.

The museum is set out in separate storehouse buildings, and the project will see the restoration and addition of new exhibition spaces within Storehouse 10.

sketch for the new space

Source: National Museum of the Royal Navy

sketch for the new space

Storehouses 10 and 11 will then be connected to one another.

Redman Design was appointed to work with the museum just over a year ago following a five-way strategic pitch. The other groups involve in the project are project managers Appleyards, architects Purcell Miller Tritton and the museum, which is working on collections and the information.

John Redman, partner at Redman Design, says, ‘We helped the museum clarify the vision for the gallery and define the details. It has to appeal to not just tourist visitors, but also specialist visitors.’

The consultancy is working on all elements of interpretative strategy, as well as designing the 3D aspects and graphics. It will also be responsible for tendering other work packages, such as audio-visual installations, and managing the work on behalf of the gallery. These elements will be tendered in 2013 by the museum and Redman Design.

Redman says, ‘It’s going to be a bit different to what you might expect – it’s not all about guns and ships and weapons but looking at the Navy from a more human, personal perspective.’

He adds, ‘It’s a listed building so we have to work within the constraints of that. The walls will be kept as they are at the moment but they have to be stabilised as the brick is crumbling. It’s about using modern design but working within a listed building.’

Redman says that the exhibition will use personal narratives to look and ‘war and peace’ through the eyes of people who have been in the Navy, focusing on the 20th century through to the present day. This exhibition space will cover the entire ground-floor level of the museum.

The new galleries are due to open in early 2014.

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