The wooden clad building is designed to look like the ship's hull and covers the old dry docks. © Wilkinson Eyre Architects

Designs for a new museum in Portsmouth to house Tudor warship The Mary Rose and the objects found with her were unveiled on March 28 2006.

An oval wooden clad building is planned to cover the dry dock in which the ship is currently being conserved at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard. Construction will start in 2008 and the museum should be completed and open to the public by 2011, the 500th anniversary of the Mary Rose’s maiden voyage.

The museum will reunite the hull of the warship with some of the 19,000 artefacts that were recovered from the wreck site during dives between 1975 and 1982. They are currently housed in a temporary museum more than 300 metres from the ship itself.

Next to HMS Victory at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, the museum will cover the Mary Rose's current location. © Wilkinson Eyre Architects

Displays over three levels of galleries will tell her story and recreate decks from the ship with objects from the wreck placed in their original context.

HRH The Prince of Wales is President of the Mary Rose Trust and dived on the wreck site more than 30 years ago. “The time has come to reunite the ship with its incredible collection of artefacts in one building,” he said.

“This museum, with its much improved educational facilities and its new displays, will enhance hugely the visitor experience and will safeguard the Mary Rose for future generations to enjoy,” he added.

Visitors will be able to get close up to the restored timbers of the Mary Rose. © Wilkinson Eyre Architects

The structure is designed to look like the ship’s hull and the wooden covers that enclosed dry docks in the past. Visitors will be able to get close to the ship’s original timbers, which will be fully conserved by special chemicals by the time of the opening.

The Mary Rose Trust launched a competition in 2004 to find a design for the new museum. Designs by Wilkinson Eyre, whose previous projects include Gateshead’s Millennium Bridge and the National Waterfront Museum in Swansea, were finally chosen from a list of 45 submissions.

Land Design, Pringle Brandon and Gifford and Davis Langdon were also involved in the plans.

There will also be projections showing how the vessel would have looked in its prime. © Glowfrog Studios for Pringle Brandon

It is estimated the project will cost about £23m and the trust is hoping an application for £13m funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund will be successful. The Mary Rose Trust is also launching a campaign, The Final Voyage, to raise the remaining £10m.

Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, which houses the Mary Rose along with HMS Victory and HMS Warrior, currently receives 600,000 visitors a year and the new development should attract even more people to the venue. More than seven million people have already seen the Mary Rose in its current location.

The Mary Rose, built between 1509 and 1511 and a favourite of Henry VIII, sunk in the Solent off Portsmouth in 1545 on its way to engage the French fleet. Its hull was successfully recovered in 1982 and in October 2005 timbers from its bow and one of the ship’s anchors were also raised. It is the world’s only 16th century warship on display.