Case studies Imperial War Museum
Learning and Event Spaces
The Imperial War Museum has several locations throughout the UK, with its original flagship site located in an iconic and imposing Victorian building near London's Waterloo Station. This immensely popular museum attracts a large number of visitors, catering to both the general public and those seeking to delve deeper into modern and historical warfare.
For organised visits, the museum has a series of dedicated spaces that require flexibility to accommodate a wide variety of events. These include two new learning and events spaces located on two floors at this location: the Taube Family Holocaust Learning Centre and the Cloore Learning Centre.
Each feature a suite of multi-functional spaces by Dannat Johnson Architects (DJA), who were commissioned by Imperial War Museums London (IWML) to create these new spaces alongside the new Second World War and Holocaust Galleries.
Carl Cairns from DJA oversaw the specification of various flooring in the spaces and chose 102 sq m of Domus' Horning Castle Engineered Timber. This engineered wood floor features a 4mm oak top layer, with its 'living' finish retaining some of the natural characteristics of timber to give it a more authentic, natural wood look, such as knots or sapwood.
Oak flooring had already been used in Phase 1 of the IWML masterplan created by Foster + Partners, making it logical to carry the material forward in the new Learning and Events spaces.
"Although these are learning spaces, it was very important that they didn't feel like school classrooms" Cairns explains. "This flooring is really appropriate to the different uses of these spaces from school visits to film screenings and evening receptions. The furniture is also being moved around throughout the day as the spaces are reconfigured, so it was important that the flooring was as durable as it was attractive."
Learning and presentation spaces require considerable levels of technology provision, so the Dannatt Johnson team had to take particular care to seamlessly integrate those services into the listed building's fabric, including walls and floors. The finished spaces are elegant and welcoming, conducive to study and shared experiences, thanks to the considered palette of materials chosen by DJA.
Photography: Peter Cook
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