The Art Fund recently announced the six museums on the UK's 2014 Museum of the Year shortlist, its annual award for the outstanding museum of the year. The award celebrates every aspect of what makes a museum successful, but this year the list was highlighted by crucial work by architects, including renovations of the Tate Britain and the Ditchling Museum of Art & Craft, as well as the newly-constructed Mary Rose Museum in Portsmouth. The winner from the six museums will receive a £100,000 prize, and will be announced on July 9th.
Read on after the break for the complete shortlist
The six museums making the shortlist are:
- Ditchling Museum of Art & Craft, Sussex
- Hayward Gallery, London
- Mary Rose Museum, Portsmouth
- Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, Norwich
- Tate Britain, London
- Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefield
Perhaps the highest profile entry, the Tate Britain reopened late last year after a £45 million renovation by Caruso St John. Penelope Curtis, the director of the museum, praised the way that Caruso St John had used the beautiful elements from the original building, but also added to the experience by "creating architecture where before there was just space".
Another renovation, this time by Adam Richards Architects, has had a similar effect for the much smaller Ditchling Museum of Art & Craft. "All the visitors we have go away saying what a fantastic building it is", commented Jennie Wotherspoon, a volunteer at the museum.
Wilkinson Eyre Architects make the shortlist with a new build project, their Mary Rose Museum in Portsmouth. The design takes its cues from the Mary Rose, the Tudor ship which is the centrepiece of the museum, with its wooden construction and darkened interior experience. The design is described as a 'jewellery box' intended to show off the gem at its heart.
However the elephant in the room is the renovation yet to happen: the Hayward Gallery, one of the three cultural venues forming the Southbank Centre. The planned remodeling of the Southbank Centre by Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios was put on hold in February. Whether the project will go ahead at all, and what this would mean for the success of the Hayward, are yet to be determined.
Story via BD Online
