building for a new future
a sustainable development for Cheltenham Art Gallery & Museum
And The Winner is .....
Cheltenham Borough Council is pleased to announce that the winner of the RIBA Open Design Competition is: Berman Guedes Stretton
The Jury Panel said: "The unanimous decision of the assessors was that Berman Guedes Stretton be awarded the commission, in the anticipation of realising a distinguished and successful project. The scheme possessed clarity of vision and an uncomplicated consistency that gave the design a simple elegance and logic". They also praised the design's eco-friendly aspects, including use of reclaimed and self-finished materials, ground source heat pumps and natural ventilation - and further felt that the development would enhance the surrounding area, by creating a link through to Cheltenham's oldest building, medieval St Mary's Church.
Read more about the winning submission
Cheltenham Borough Council is inviting architects, or architect-led multi-disciplinary design teams, to prepare proposals for the design of an extension to the existing Art Gallery and Museum.
As one of Cheltenham’s key cultural facilities and public buildings, the current Art Gallery & Museum is compromised by difficult access to its main collections and by limited exhibition, storage and other spaces essential to the provision of a quality public art gallery and museum service.
Our aim is to address these issues through the development of the semi-derelict site to the east of the Art Gallery & Museum. This will require the removal of some of the existing buildings, to provide adequate space for the new extension, and to establish an appropriate presence on the street – both in terms of scale and proportion.
The new facilities will enable the collections to be more accessible to the widest possible audiences, building on the Art Gallery & Museum’s local, regional and national strengths, through providing: larger, flexible temporary exhibition spaces, better public circulation and access within the galleries, improved storage conditions, greater public access to the study collections and more space for the many support services necessary for a modern museum.
Through achieving our aim, we want to develop and design the extension and internal organisation of the new facility, in an environmentally–friendly and innovative way, using construction from quality natural and reclaimed materials, together with a combination of on–site and off–site sustainable energy sources.
It is intended that by using a more holistic, sustainable lifestyle approach to the development, we can not only create an energy efficient building – a flagship public ‘green’ scheme for Cheltenham – but also a building that will significantly enhance the conservation area and sit happily in the pattern of existing development, as well as preserving the setting of adjacent listed buildings – and assisting with wider regeneration and Civic Pride initiatives.