In 2013 we won an OJEU tendered competition to design the second phase of the Garden Museum.

While Phase I, built in 2008, addressed pressing needs of dedicated spaces within the existing building, Phase II brings the opportunity for the museum to create a public face. Being housed in a church building, and adjacent to Lambeth Palace, the museum is often mistaken for part of the palace. Our new building provides a much-needed urban presence; we have extended the museum as a cluster of copper clad pavilions that form a cloister garden.

The landscape design has been developed in collaboration with Dan Pearson. The relationship between the precision of the new and the patina of the old, combined with the colour and texture of the planting, define the character of the place.

Our intervention in the church is reversible and brings activity into a listed building. Developing the museum site brought many challenges; it is a significant archeological site, with listed tombs, protected trees and protected views. Our scheme responds to these parameters whilst making a building with an iconic presence in the city.