ARCHITECTURE FOUNDATION DRAWING TOGETHER
MAY 2020
On May 14th as part of the Architecture Foundation 100 day Studio NMLA hosted a collective drawing event. At a time where people are physically separate, we were delighted to bring a large group together to draw. The event allowed a new level of participation in our studio’s collective drawing practice.
Participants were split into a series of ‘breakout rooms’, each led by someone from NMLA. A journey was narrated that encouraged people to draw themselves in the windows of their homes, then come to the street to clap and interact with one another, and finally to collectively design a public space. This narrative created a series of detailed, imagined scenes that have been combined into one colourful tapestry.
The event finished in unison with Thursday’s Clap for Our Carers, with the drawing revealed alongside a soundtrack by composer Kevin Pollard.
To view the final drawing and watch the video please go to our Instagram feed here.
A SITE FOR SAURIIS
JANUARY 2017
Our proposal to redevelop the grounds of the Natural History Museum is due to start on site this month. The work to the main entrance – the first of three phases – will introduce level access to this area for the first time while also restoring the Grade-I listed fabric to its former glory.
The works include changing levels, repaving the forecourt, restoring railings, installing planting, and repairing or reinstating original terracotta details across the site.
Ahead of this, the main entrance and central hall of the Museum are now closed while both teams gear up for construction – including some unusual enabling works. As part of these works Dippy the diplodocus has now been dismantled ahead of going on tour around the country; to be eventually recast in bronze for the next phase of our project.
The railings have now been removed for off-site restoration and re-painting:
And scaffolding is also going up for the removal of display cases and various specimens:
This will need to go up again halfway through construction of Phase 1 allow for delivery of the blue whale skull through our active site. Here it is just before it left the Museum.
If you’re wondering how that that will fit through the front doors, the answer’s simple: the same way the elephants do.
Phase 1 is due to complete mid-July ahead of the main entrance reopening to the public shortly after. In the meantime, there’s a pop-up conservation studio in the Darwin Centre – which we highly recommend – where you can see the conservationists at work restoring the whale’s bones.