British Museum to ditch depressing bag check “sheds” with an architect competition

Visiting a museum should be an uplifting experience, but these days, it often starts by being asked to open a bag so a security guard can peer at your personal belongings. The British Museum amplifies this depressing start to a visit by doing this in a couple of temporary plastic outdoor sheds, that were plonked outside the museum in early 2016.

British Museum rear entrance

Far from the grand stone facade that people want to head straight into, people are funnelled along queues into a white plastic box instead. Too hot in the summer and far too cold in the winter, the temporary sheds have the feel of not only being as permanent as King’s Cross station’s 1970s “shed” once was but are fitted out internally to be as depressing to wait in as possible.

The British Museum has finally decided to do something about it.

They’ve announced a shortlist of five architectural groups that have been asked to devise ways of improving the welcome pavilion and public realm at the museum’s front and rear. These will also be temporary, ahead of a major redevelopment that may potentially see the pavillions removed entirely and the security encased inside the building instead.

The brief calls for a high-quality design that will allow the Museum the flexibility to explore options for future scenarios. It also calls for a clear end-of-life plan that will account for the re-use of any structures erected on the site.

It’s unlikely we’ll be able to avoid the security bag check anytime soon, but at least waiting to go up to the desk and have a torch poked around our bags might feel less depressing.

The shortlisted teams are:

  • Collective Cultures (OMMX, AANF, Msoma Architects, YAA Projects)
    • with J&L Gibbons
  • East Architecture and Hayatsu Architects
    • with Bradley-Hole Schoenaich Landscape
  • Periscope
    • with Assemble
  • Publica
    • with Carmody Groarke
  • Studio Weave
    • with Wright & Wright Architects, Webb Yates Engineers, Tom Massey Studio and Daisy Froud

The shortlist of consultants will each receive a fixed fee to develop concept designs, which the Museum will evaluate before the contract to progress a single design to RIBA Stage 7 is awarded towards the end of 2024.

Alice Fraser, Head of Capital Projects: Masterplan at the British Museum, said: “The British Museum is the most visited attraction in the UK. This project brief has been established to ensure that the 6 million people that make the journey here every year are given a fantastic experience from the moment they step through the gates.

“Our long-term intention is to bring forward permanent improvements that account for growth in our visitor numbers and reimagine the relationship between our buildings and the wider neighbourhood as part of our Masterplan project. The Visitor Welcome Pavilion project will act as a precursor to that process, calling for high-quality designs that deliver an immediate improvement for visitors and allow the Museum the flexibility to explore new solutions to our welcome experience.

“The GLA Architecture and Urbanism Framework has given us access to a pre-selected pool of innovative and diverse practices capable of delivering high-quality proposals that will help us meet our objectives. I’m very excited to be calling on this talented group of designers and await the outcome of the procurement with anticipation.”