The Design Museum
Design Museum
Shad Thames
London SE1 2YD
About The Design Museum
The Design Museum is a charitable institute and family attraction based at Shad Thames near Tower Hill. It’s located in a stunning white-washed former 1940s Banana warehouse, reconfigured as an elegant modernist ’gastrodome’ after the International Modernist style of the 1930s, with its re-engineering and construction overseen by Terence Conran. With breath-taking views over the Thames and the Tower Of London, and across to the City and Canary Wharf, the Design Museum was founded as a family attraction in 1989 and is the UK's biggest provider of design education resources. The Design Museum in fact acts as a bridge between the design community and industry and wider society, as well as being a family day providing both education and inspiration, thanks to the presence of ever-changing exhibitions by many of the world's leading designers and architects. The Design Museum also nurtures new design talent and runs international travelling exhibitions. But it’s at the Design Museum spaces that impress the visitor from the off, both for their own design, and their ever-changing, varied and often thought-provoking content.
The Design Museum comprises three glamorous zones that can all be easily digested on a family day out which can’t be spoiled by the weather and is accessible every day of the year (bar 25-26 December). The three spaces comprise the main Design Museum Space, the flashy Riverside Hall, and the atmospheric Contemporary Design Gallery, all of which can be hired for special functions and corporate events. However, the focus is on providing a fine family day out, with interesting and informative displays on all forms of industrial, graphic, fashion and architectural design.
The first dedicated museum of modern design anywhere, in 2007 the Design Museum was rated by The Times as No. 2 in its museums of the year (attracting 200,000 visitors annually). The family attraction is indeed imposing from the off, a ticket affording access to two floors of exhibits and the Design Museum Tank exhibition space on the river front on the south bank of the Thames.
The Ground Floor of the Design Museum features a foyer with Admissions desk, the Design Museum Shop and Design Museum Café – both accessible to ticket holders for free - and toilets designed by Australia’s Marc Newson, which are viewed as an attraction in themselves by some visitors. Not your average family day out!
The First Floor contains exhibitions that change every few months (details are on the Design Museum website) and past exhibitions include a retrospective of Peter Saville's Graphic Design, Manolo Blahnik's Shoe Design and the History Of Video Games. Early in 2008, the main exhibition – running to 13 April – was Maison Tropicale, covering the work of French designer and engineer Jean Prouvé (1901-84), offering the first comprehensive overview of his ouevre in the UK. It includes examples of his furniture design, architecture, drawings, film and photos, and explains his considerable influence on 20th Century design.
Also on the First Floor of the Design Museum is the Blue Print Café, which is one of Terence Conran's restaurants and has impressive views of the Thames and Tower Bridge, as well as de rigueur top-notch commestibles, offering a family day out to remember.
The Design Museum Space is situated on the mezzanine floor between the First and Second Floors and is not generally accessible to day ticket holders. It’s used for mainly Design Museum lectures on design and designers, or can be hired out for occasions such as weddings and business conferences. Its décor is light blue, as the theme of the Space is "the swimming pool". A talk on 15 February 2008, for example, was presented by Arnold Chan, architectural lighting designer and director of London-based Isometrix Lighting & Design Ltd. It focused on his work creating high-quality lighting and how new technology influences his design. His portfolio of commissions includes Lloyd’s of London and La Biennale di Venezia.
The Design Museum Second Floor is normally divided into two sub-sections, the larger towards the windows on the river side of the building, while the smaller is a walled off area to the rear. This is a semi-permanent exhibition about historic design, themed on past decades of design. The rear space houses a private Education Centre, where the Education Department of the Design Museum teachs children out on school visits or partaking in workshops. Since 2003, the Design Museum has also run the UK's top design award, the "Designer of the Year", with a £25,000 prize.
The March 2008 programme of Design Museum workshops, for instance - Mad Hatters - focused on modern millinery design and production techniques, featuring a selection of ribbons, sequins, feathers and beads that participants could use to create a unique piece of headgear.
All areas of the Design Museum are accessible by level access or lift, and wheelchair-accessible toilets are on the ground floor. A wheelchair is available from Admissions and two disabled parking bays are on Shad Thames behind the Design Museum, while visits and workshops for those with special educational needs are also welcomed, making it an informative and fun day out for everyone.
The Design Museum also holds taster courses for 12-16 year olds, such as the Get Into Graphic Design three-day course of 18-20 February 2008, while there are regular Sunday workshops, so that ticket holders inspired by their family day out can take their design interest one step further. Indeed, every child visiting the Design Museum is given a free Design Action Pack. It’s an unusual family attraction that can inspire a new hobby, or indeed a lifelong passion and even a career! Just the ticket.