24 Hour Museum - official guide to UK museums, galleries, exhibitions and heritage
Gateway to Over 3,000 UK museums, galleries and heritage attractions
Skip to navigation

News

It's Architecture For All Thanks To £3.27m HLF Grant

By David Prudames

03/04/2003

Image: Shows a watercolour image of the Temple of Diana, Ephesus by William Walcot.

Left: the Temple of Diana, Ephesus, watercolour and bodycolour over pencil by William Walcot (1874-1943). © RIBA Library Drawings Collection.

A £3.27 million Heritage Lottery Fund grant is set to help the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) and the Victoria & Albert Museum provide Architecture For All.

Due for completion in October 2004, the Architecture For All project is aimed at stimulating public imagination by boosting engagement with architecture and will cost a total of £10 million.

Plans include the re-housing of RIBA's massive collection of architectural drawings at the V&A and the creation of a new dedicated architecture gallery at the museum.

“What can I say? This is the news we've all been waiting for,” enthused RIBA President Paul Hyett.

Image: Shows a caricature bust made of painted wood and smoking a pipe by Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens.

Right: caricature bust, painted wood with a pipe by Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens (1869-1944). © RIBA Library Drawings Collection.

“This marks the end of decades of uncertainty for the RIBA's architectural collections. By matching this generous grant – and match it we will - the doors to our collections will be open to the public in under 18 months time, taking architecture and design to everyone: the young and old, the interested and those who are just curious.”

“Through our work with the V&A the curious may become scholars and many more will come to love architecture. This project takes architecture to where it belongs - to the community.”

As well as a new Architecture Gallery to be designed by Gareth Hoskins Architects, RIBA's Drawings, Manuscripts and Archives Collection will be rehoused at the V&A. The huge archive will be displayed alongside the museum's Prints, Drawings and Paintings in the Henry Cole Wing.

New object stores, offices, public study rooms and a group teaching room have been designed and physical/virtual access to collections through education, exhibitions and on-line projects is to be extended. A joint education post has been created and will be filled later this year.

Image: Shows an architect's drawing inscribed 'La Héle des Mesures' by Le Corbusier.

Left: drawing inscribed 'La Héle des Mesures', made for a lecture given in London, December 1947 by Le Corbusier. © RIBA Library Drawings Collection.

“The treasures of the collections range from drawings by Inigo Jones held by the RIBA to architectural masterpieces such as the Norfolk House Music Room in the V&A,” explained Mark Jones, Director of the V&A.

“This grant will enable us to show more of these precious works to a wider audience increasingly interested in architecture.”

RIBA and the V&A are also collaborating on a range of events over the next few months to bring architecture to a wider audience.

A highlight will be a talk by Daniel Libeskind, designer of the V&A's Spiral, Imperial War Museum North and plans for the former World Trade Centre site in New York, at Sense and the City Too during Architecture Week in June.

To find out more about this huge and fantastic project click on this link to visit the Architecture For All website. The link opens a new window, close it to rejoin the site.

Victoria and Albert Museum
Victoria and Albert Museum, Cromwell Road, South Kensington, London, SW7 2RL, England

Open: Daily 1000-1745 Fri 1000-2200
Closed: 24-26 December

RIBA Trust
66 Portland Place, London, W1B 1AD, England

Open: Mon 1330 - 1700 Tues 1000 - 2000 Wed - Fri 1000 - 1700 Sat 1000 - 1330

Related Articles

Rare Silver Cup Commemorating Coronation Of Charles II Is Saved For The Nation
Old Roots - Nu Shoots In Detail - Project Information
The Sackler Centre - The V&A's New Centre For Arts Education
Both Sides Of The Iron Curtain - Cold War Modern At The V&A
Museums And Galleries Get Behind Cultural Olympiad Weekend
The V&A Celebrates The 40th Anniversary Of The Booker Prize
RNID Calls For More Help For Deaf During Heritage Open Days

E-news registration
E-mail story to a friend
Tell us what you think

Mark Leckey Scoops £25,000 And The 2008 Turner Prize

Library Thief Update: Sentencing Adjourned Until January 16, 2009

Fund Aims To Realise Long Campaign For Cardiff Museum

Britglyph Art Campaign Uses Web To Make Mass Geoglyph

Inaugural Awards Ceremony Honours UK Arts Philanthropists

Rare Silver Cup Commemorating Coronation Of Charles II Is Saved For The Nation

London Fire Brigade Museum Escapes Closure - For Now

Another Busy Year For Archaeology On Orkney In 2008

Severndroog Castle To Be Restored Thanks To Lottery Grant

Campaign To Save Captain Scott's Hut Needs Another £65,000

Open Air Lab Project Launches At The Natural History Museum

Gravity Defying Vertical Racer Drives Kids Up the Wall At MOSI

DCMS And English Heritage List Seven London Bridges

Railway Museums Launch Joint WWII Railway Worker Project

Bowes Museum Famous Mechanical Swan Goes Back On Show In December

Free Admission To Historic Scotland Sites For St Andrew's Day

Fund Raising Scheme Is Backing Great North Museum: Hancock

Tyneside Gallery Plots New Display After Funding Victory

Search this site

Advanced Search
Map Search

Home Page
News Page
Exhibition Page
What's On
Trails Page
Website of the Week
Letters Page
Welsh Home
Graphical Version

Skip to body

Copyright © 24 Hour Museum
Information published here was believed to be correct at the time it was prepared. Welsh language pages developed with CYMAL: Museums Archives and Libraries Wales, funded by the Welsh Assembly Government.

Skip to navigation
Go to top