The Design Museum in London has announced the sale of its current building at Shad Thames to Dame Zaha Hadid Architects. Hadid is best known as the architect of the Olympic aquatic centre as well as many other global projects.
The sale is the next step in the Design Museum’s journey to relocate to the former Commonwealth Institute building in Kensington High Street, west London, which is planned to open in late 2015. The Design Museum’s lease at Shad Thames belongs to the Conran Foundation who also paid for the museum’s original design and construction. The Conran Foundation will gift the proceeds from the sale towards the construction of the new museum.
The Design Museum has occupied the current building since 1989 and will continue its extensive programme of exhibitions until the new museum opens. Under the terms of the sale agreement the Design Museum will continue to operate at Shad Thames until 2015. The move will give the Design Museum three times more space to show a wide range of exhibitions and showcase its collection.
Deyan Sudjic, Director of the Design Museum, comments ‘Whilst we are sad to be leaving Shad Thames. We are leaving the building in the best possible hands, the sale is a significant moment in the museum’s relocation plans and a substantial contribution towards our new home.’ Zaha Hadid adds ‘This important acquisition of the Shad Thames site will preserve its significance and we look forward to the future use and occupation of the building.’ The Design Museum at Shad Thames was sold with the support of Cushman & Wakefield and Hogan Lovells International LLP.
The Design Museum is the world’s leading museum devoted to architecture and design. The museum opened in 1989 and its work encompasses all elements of design, including fashion, product and graphic design. The museum has hosted exhibitions showcasing some of the most important pioneers of design including, Paul Smith, Zaha Hadid, Jonathan Ive, and Dieter Rams. The Design Museum plans to relocate from its current home at Shad Thames to the former Commonwealth Institute building in Kensington, West London. The project is expected to be completed by 2015. The interior of the Commonwealth Institute building will be converted to create a new home for the Design Museum giving it three times more
Dame Zaha Mohammad Hadid, DBE (born 31 October 1950) is an Iraqi-British architect. She received the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 2004—the first woman to do so—and the Stirling Prize in 2010 and 2011. Her buildings are distinctively futuristic, characterized by the “powerful, curving forms of her elongated structures” with “multiple perspective points and fragmented geometry to evoke the chaos of modern life”.