The task received by the architects as a result of the competition in 2006 was responsible not only because of the popularity of the museum - its complex is the seventh most popular tourist attraction in Great Britain (largely thanks to the zero meridian, of course) with 2 million visitors a year - but also for the outstanding historical and architectural value of the ensemble.
Although the main exhibition areas and storage facilities are located in the buildings of the 19th century, the museum owns the buildings of the Royal Naval Hospital and Observatory (both built by C. Wren) and the Queen's House of Inigo Jones. The entire museum area is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, so the architects had to place most of their structure underground (5,500 m2 out of 7,300 m2) - despite the fact that this is, among other things, a new main entrance to the museum.
The roof of the building has been transformed into a landscaped terrace with a water cascade, which, along with the use of natural stone, makes the building in the spirit of neo-modernism related to classic and baroque surroundings.
The new wing, named after the recently deceased Israeli shipbuilding magnate Sammy Ofer (who almost completely financed the construction), houses exhibition halls, cafes, a library and archives, which is especially important: a significant part of the museum's 2 million exhibits are unique documents. as well as 100,000 books and manuscripts covering 3.2 km of shelves.
N. F.
