Great Court, British Museum
Great Court, British Museum
The Great Court Project was a £100M development for the British Museum.
The development was architecturally designed by Foster and Partners and consisted of creating galleries, auditoriums, seminar rooms, retail spaces, cafes, a restaurant, a commercial kitchen, a young visitor's centre, the covered piazza and the restoration of the grade 1* listed Reading Room.
Facilitating Architecture
Conservation areas within the Great Court demise were required to be air conditioned within tight humidity and temperature tolerances, while many public spaces were comfort cooled.
The challenge was to accommodate these provision within a landlocked, architecturally critical spaces while to ensuring the works were phased to ensure the museum did not close for a day.
To rise to these challenges it was necessary to innovate, for instance by:
- By developing a close control air conditioning strategy to serve the Reading Room throughout the duration of the project (including the excavation of the Great Court).
- Developing flush, floor mounted displacement units capable of delivering displacement air to the Great Court over a distance of 25m.
- Utilising and adapting basement corridors to naturally ventilate the Great Court under mid-season (i.e. Spring / Autumn) conditions.
Project completed by Peter Roberts as lead designer for Buro Happold Consulting Engineers.
OR Consulting Engineers
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