Sam Jacob Studio to design the new Cartoon Museum in London
Sam Jacob Studio has been commissioned to design the new Cartoon Museum on London’s Oxford Street. Scheduled to open in early 2019, the new venue will heralds a new, more public-facing phase for the institution and also enable it to expand its programming surrounding British cartoons, caricatures, comics and animation.
Originally founded in 2006 by a group of cartoonists, collectors and enthusiasts, the Cartoon Museum has been searching for a new permanent home that will help it develop to its full potential. The museum has accepted a 25-year lease at 55 Wells Street, located near Oxford Circus. This central location, close to the Photographer’s Gallery and many of London’s leading commercial art galleries will help the Cartoon Museum definie its new, higher profile role.
‘It’s a fantastic institution with an incredible collection and programme,’ says Sam Jacob, who is known for his playful approach to architecture and working on A House for Essex with Grayson Perry with FAT.
Sam Jacob Studio’s rendering of the new Cartoon Museum in London
‘Our approach turns the graphic world of cartoons into a three-dimensional space full of humour and delight,’ he says of the new design which will create space for temporary installations and the display of the permanent collection. There will also be a shop, learning centre and archive space, as well as the necessary back of house facilities.
The museum wanted more flexibility with how they could present the collection of original cartoon and comic art from the 18th-century to the present day. Their archive includes examples from the ‘golden age of caricature’ by the likes Georgian era legends James Gillray and George Cruikshank, as well as political cartoons from the 19th and 20th centuries right up to contemporary cartoonists and comic artists such as Alison Bechdel, Charles Griffin, Michael Heath and Posy Simmonds amongst many others.
‘Sam Jacob Studio’s design brings a real sense of fun and vibrancy to the visitor experience. It has always been our aim to send people out of the museum happier than when they came in and Sam is really helping us to achieve this aim. We look forward to continuing to animate the cultural landscape of London,’ says Oliver Preston, chair of the Cartoon Museum.
INFORMATION
For more information, visit the Sam Jacob Studio website and the Cartoon Museum website
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
Harriet Thorpe is a writer, journalist and editor covering architecture, design and culture, with particular interest in sustainability, 20th-century architecture and community. After studying History of Art at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) and Journalism at City University in London, she developed her interest in architecture working at Wallpaper* magazine and today contributes to Wallpaper*, The World of Interiors and Icon magazine, amongst other titles. She is author of The Sustainable City (2022, Hoxton Mini Press), a book about sustainable architecture in London, and the Modern Cambridge Map (2023, Blue Crow Media), a map of 20th-century architecture in Cambridge, the city where she grew up.
-
Out of office: The Wallpaper* editors’ picks of the weekFrom sumo wrestling to Singaporean fare, medieval manuscripts to magnetic exhibitions, the Wallpaper* team have traversed the length and breadth of culture in the British capital this week
-
Doshi Retreat at the Vitra Campus is both a ‘first’ and a ‘last’ for the great Balkrishna DoshiDoshi Retreat opens at the Vitra campus, honouring the Indian modernist’s enduring legacy and joining the Swiss design company’s existing, fascinating collection of pavilions, displays and gardens
-
Issey Miyake’s shape-shifting A/W 2025 collection transforms the paper bag into something you can wear‘Can anything be considered a garment, as long as it’s on the body?’ says creative director Satoshi Kondo of the art-infused collection, which sees the everyday reimagined
-
You may know it as ‘Dirty House’ – now, The Rogue Room brings 21st-century wellness to ShoreditchThe Rogue Room – set in the building formerly known as Dirty House by Sir David Adjaye, now reinvented by Studioshaw – bridges wellness and culture in London's Shoreditch
-
The architectural innovation hidden in plain sight at Frieze London 2025The 2025 Frieze entrance pavilions launch this week alongside the art fair, showcasing a brand-new, modular building system set to shake up the architecture of large-scale events
-
RIBA Stirling Prize 2025 winner is ‘a radical reimagining of later living’Appleby Blue Almshouse wins the RIBA Stirling Prize 2025, crowning the social housing complex for over-65s by Witherford Watson Mann Architects, the best building of the year
-
‘Belonging’ – the LFA 2026 theme is revealed, exploring how places can become personalThe idea of belonging and what it means in today’s world will be central at the London Festival of Architecture’s explorations, as the event’s 2026 theme has been announced today
-
Join us on a first look inside Regent’s View, the revamped canalside gasholder project in LondonRegent's View, the RSHP-designed development for St William, situated on a former gasholder site on a canal in east London, has just completed its first phase
-
The Royal College of Art has announced plans for renewal of its Kensington campusThe Royal College of Art project, led by Witherford Watson Mann Architects, includes the revitalisation of the Darwin Building and more, in the hopes of establishing an open and future-facing place of creativity
-
Ursula K Le Guin’s maps of imaginary worlds are charted in a new exhibitionUrsula K Le Guin, the late American author, best known for her science fiction novels, is celebrated in a new exhibition at the Architectural Association in London, charting her whimsical maps, which bring her fantasy worlds alive
-
Power Hall’s glow-up shines light on science and innovation in ManchesterPower Hall at The Science and Industry Museum in Manchester was given a spruce-up by Carmody Groarke, showcasing the past and future of machines, engineering and sustainable architecture