England: Creation of a Hightech History Centre in Plymouth
In the coming year, construction works for an ultra-modern history centre in Plymouth will begin to open the new building on time with the 400-years anniversary of the Mayflower in 2020. The project with a scheduled investment of 34 million pounds (approx. 43.5 million Euro) is designed by the architectural firm Atkins. By joining the already existing city museum with the gallery of arts, some new interactive exhibition rooms will be created on an area of 3,500 square meters, giving space to five permanent galleries, five exhibition spaces for local and national touring exhibitions, as well as for six rooms that can be used for specific artistic projects. Architects’ plans further include a cantilevered “floating” cuboid with a reflective cladding as the design-technical highlight of the new complex. The already existing buildings should be converted into interactive rooms. Besides the focus on arts, galleries will also explore subjects such as Plymothians who have been influential on the world stage such as Drake and Scott of the Antarctic, the city’s relationship with the Royal Navy, Plymouth’s prehistoric landscape and the West Country’s artistic legacy. Councilor Peter Smith, deputy leader, commented that the new history centre “is not just about attracting visitors to spend money in the city. This will be an incredible resource for our residents, our schools, local historians. We are working with our partners to create somewhere people can learn, research and feel a sense of pride in Plymouth, as well as just have fun.” Before its scheduled opening on 8th April 2020 the historic centre will be renamed. (eap)
