The Ashmolean museum, Oxford
The Ashmolean museum in Oxford, once a dusty old labyrinth of higgledy piggledy rooms and illogical corridors, has been transformed almost beyond recognition in a £61m renovation by Rick Mather Architects.
The result - a light-infused six-level palatial showcase - not only doubles the exhibition space available to the museum, but also opens it up to a wider audience and allows an airing for previously unseen collections and artefacts.
And what artefacts they are: already home to the world’s best collection of pre-dynastic Egyptian materials and the largest and most important collection of Raphael drawings in the world, the Ashmolean can now boast a number of ‘new’ star attractions, including – our personal favourite – Laurence of Arabia’s robes.
The oldest museum in the oldest university in the English speaking world, the Ashmolean offers people – and Oxford’s aspiring academia – to be taught from the objects of history just as the Bodlean Library offer the opportunity to be taught from the texts.
Briefed simply to expand the space, Rick Mather explains he wanted to avoid doing a pastiche of the existing neoclassical Charles Cockerell structure because he felt it would “be an insult to him” and also it would have “looked stupid”.
Instead the solution is an elegant contemporary extension consisting of a rhythmic series of double and single height spaces, connected with mezzanines, panoptic windows and footbridges.
At every point the visitor is made to feel as though there is a way through and a connection to the outside world – avoiding the trapped feeling the old museum engendered. Here, “You always know you have an escape,” says Mather.
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox
Not that many people will be itching to leave the space, with its fascinating collections. Another of the previously unseen pieces, recently acquired by the museum, is the Titian painting ‘Amor Vincit Omnia’ – or ‘Love Conquers All’ – not seen in public since 1960.
Inside the new galleries the museum’s curators have worked with design company Metaphor to reorganise the collections in a new way, somewhat controversially forcing people to read the objects in a new context.
The strategy, called “Crossing Cultures Crossing Borders” deals with an exchange of cultural styles and objects and aims to show an interrelated world culture through history and demonstrate how civilisations developed alongside each other.
Bound to meet some scepticism amongst traditionalists, the concept works better in practice than we first expected – far from juxtaposing objects, it instead creates a seamless sequence between the galleries.
Described by the New York Times as the “$100m Museum”, the renovation has also brought the city of dreaming spires its first rooftop restaurant, reached via a cascading staircase that runs up through the new atrium.
Ellie Stathaki is the Architecture & Environment Director at Wallpaper*. She trained as an architect at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece and studied architectural history at the Bartlett in London. Now an established journalist, she has been a member of the Wallpaper* team since 2006, visiting buildings across the globe and interviewing leading architects such as Tadao Ando and Rem Koolhaas. Ellie has also taken part in judging panels, moderated events, curated shows and contributed in books, such as The Contemporary House (Thames & Hudson, 2018), Glenn Sestig Architecture Diary (2020) and House London (2022).
-
Remembering Richard Serra (1938-2024), American art’s man of steel
American artist Richard Serra, whose vast sculptures transformed landscapes around the world, has died aged 85
By Hannah Silver Published
-
Architectural gardens around the world to soothe the soul
From small domestic gardens, to nature reserves, urban interventions and local parks, here are some of the finest green projects that place nature at their heart
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Corfu hotel Domes Miramare redefines beachfront bliss
Make like Jackie O at Corfu hotel Domes Miramare, a property with contemporary luxury and echoes of 1960s glamour in spades
By Bridget Downing Published
-
Ash Tree House offers a contextual approach to a north London site
Ash Tree House by Edgley Design is a modern family home in a north London conservation area's backyard site
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
In memoriam: John Miller (1930-2024)
We remember John Miller, an accomplished British architect and educator who advocated a quiet but rigorous modernism
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
River Wing at Clare College responds to its historic Cambridge heritage
University of Cambridge opens its new River Wing on Clare College Old Court, uniting modern technology with historic design
By Clare Dowdy Published
-
Camden Workshop offers flexible family space in a transformed north London warehouse
Camden Workshop, a transformed industrial space in north London, was designed by architects McLaren Excell to combine residential space and a creative studio for its owners
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
The Haydon shows off its dramatic stepped volume and triplex penthouse
The Haydon, designed by architects Acme, reveals the triplex penthouse within its dramatic, stepped volume in London’s Aldgate
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
This Oxfordshire house is a modern retreat designed to frame views of nature
An Oxfordshire house by Richard Parr Associates draws on its content to craft contemporary countryside living for its users
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
‘London Estates’ surveys the architecture and influence of the capital’s council-built homes
‘London Estates: Modernist Council Housing 1946-1981’, a new book by FUEL, is the perfect place to start for inspiration on how architecture can improve every sector of society
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
The Architecture Window opens in London offering space for ‘micro-exhibitions’
The Architecture Window by Unknown Works opens at the Royal Academy of Arts in London, creating space for creative exploration and fresh voices around the built environment
By Ellie Stathaki Published