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Museum of the Home in the running for new architecture award
London venue one of four projects shortlisted for Riba's first Reinvention Award, which celebrates creative reuse of buildings
The redeveloped Museum of the Home is among four projects shortlisted for a new award that celebrates the redevelopment of existing buildings.
The London museum is in the running for the first Reinvention Award, an annual accolade created by the Royal Institute of British Architects (Riba) to recognise “achievement in the creative reuse of buildings to improve their environmental, social or economic sustainability”.
The redeveloped Museum of the Home reopened in 2021 following an £18.1m redevelopment, which included a £12.6m grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund. The scheme was designed by Wright & Wright Architects, while ZMMA was the exhibition designer.
A Riba statement about the museum said: “The museum’s Grade I-listed alms house buildings are set within a historic context of public gardens, creating an unexpected green oasis in Hackney. The architects have used the rich history of the site to inform the renovation of the early 18th-century buildings, providing new extensions to create an 80% increase in exhibition space for the museum’s collections and 50% more public space.
“Through a sustainable retrofit approach, the building has been reoriented from west to east, allowing Geffrye Street, on the museum’s east side, to feel like an extension of the museum. Both the refurbishment of the historic building and construction of the new extensions have been catalytic in animating the spaces in front of Hoxton station and Kingsland Road, positively contributing to a sense of place and reconnecting the building with the community.”
As well as the Museum of the Home, the other shortlisted projects are Great Things Lie Ahead, Holborn House, by 6a architects and artists Caragh Thuring; Houlton School in Warwickshire by van Heyningen and Haward Architects; and University of Wolverhampton School of Architecture and the Built Environment by Associated Architects with Rodney Melville and Partners.
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Riba president Simon Allford said of the Reinvention Award: “Looking ahead to the low carbon future, it is vital we always consider how we can reinvent existing buildings to work even better when they accommodate new uses. The careful husbandry of existing resources – including buildings – has a long and noble, if recently forgotten, architectural history that we are relearning – and fast.
“These remarkable projects all demonstrate that the architecture of reinvention, requires immense talent, vision and creativity. I hope that this inaugural award will act as a catalyst, inspiring others to take up the retrofit challenge and that we will see many more exciting and ambitious examples in the future.”
The winner of the 2023 Reinvention Award will be announced at the Riba Stirling Prize ceremony for the UK’s best new building on 19 October in Manchester.