Horniman appoints Feilden Fowles as lead architect for Nature + Love
The Horniman Museum and Gardens in Forest Hill, south London, has appointed Feilden Fowles as lead architect for its Nature + Love project, it announced today (25 May 2022).
With initial support* of £475,000 from The National Lottery Heritage Fund, made possible by National Lottery players, the Nature + Love project aims to make the Horniman more inclusive and accessible, placing environmental sustainability and a commitment to fighting the climate emergency at its heart.
Feilden Fowles will lead a team of conservation and landscape architects, engineers and designers to develop designs for three new attractions at the Horniman:
- a Nature Explorers Adventure Zone, introducing a nature-themed play area and children’s café, encouraging learning and wellbeing through exploration and play
- a Sustainable Gardening Zone with new plant nursery and sustainable planting displays encouraging improved health and wellbeing
- a redisplayed Natural History Gallery and indoor Nature Explorers Action Zone, exploring human understanding of and impact upon the planet, and supporting people to make changes on a local and personal level.
Kirsten Walker, Director of Collections Care and Estates at the Horniman Museum and Gardens, says: ‘Feilden Fowles stood out for us at tender because of the ambition of their sustainable approach to our Nature + Love project, combined with their impressive track record of successfully embedding environmental sustainability into their work. We’re looking forward to working with them and seeing these exciting proposals develop into detailed and deliverable designs, ahead of our Stage 2 bid to The National Lottery Heritage Fund.’
Feilden Fowles will be developing RIBA Stage 2 concept designs between now and September, and RIBA Stage 3 detailed designs by February 2023. The Horniman will submit its Stage 2 bid to The National Lottery Heritage Fund around early March 2023.
Fergus Feilden, Director at Feilden Fowles, says: ‘We are thrilled to be selected for this special commission along with our collaborators J&L Gibbons and our experienced team of consultants. The project brings together significant and current topics around inclusivity, diversity, environmental sustainability and education. The Horniman is a unique setting with a wonderfully diverse collection, buildings and landscape. This exciting project will help expand access to a wider audience while responding to the climate.’
The full design team headed by Feilden Fowles, is:
- Feilden Fowles – lead consultant, architect and principal designer
- Fiona Raley Architecture – accredited conservation architects
- J&L Gibbons – landscape architect, including landscape conservation
- Structure Workshop – structural engineer
- Skelly & Couch – services engineer
- Michael Grubb Studio – lighting design
- OFR – fire engineer.
In addition to Feilden Fowles, the following team have also been appointed for the project:
- Studio MB – exhibition design team
- Focus Consultants – project manager and contract administrator
- Artelia UK – quantity surveyor
- 3 Adapt, sustainability consultant
- Direct Access – access consultant
- Emily Smith Associates – digital feasibility consultant
- Anna Cullum Associates and SAM – evaluation consultants.
