Rochester's Museum of Navigation
Module:
Adapt & Extend
Year:
2016 - Third Year
Location:
Rochester, Kent
Located in the historic town of Rochester, Kent, this was the first location for the third year design project.
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The brief set out to add an extension onto the existing Guildhall museum as well as renovating the existing spaces. The main aim for the design of this scheme was to revive the museum back to what it once was by adding a series of new exhibition spaces.
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With the buildings Grade 1 listing the museum needed a sensitive intervention that would respect the existing building as well as creating a bold statement and creating a new landmark for Rochester. The main concept for this scheme was based around the idea of navigation which had been taken from the existing maritime exhibition spaces.
There are many attractions that bring people into the town of Rochester. With the Cathedral and the Castle already being the main attractions to Rochester, the town is in need of an added attraction to the area. Even though the museum has stood at the end of the high street for many years, over time the number of visitors has started to deteriorate and it is in major need of renovation to not only make the museum more exciting, but to also create another noticeable landmark to the town.
In order to ensure being able to achieve the most amount of different views from all directions of the building, the design incorporates a viewing tower, which rise above the existing roofs capes of the building, containing an exterior viewing platform allowing you to walk around see the whole of Rochester.
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With the points of interest it led to the themes of navigation. The ways in which a tower could be incorporated into my scheme was explored, and how it could be used as a way of navigating incoming visitors to the other important attractions of Rochester, such as the Cathedral and the castle.
The ideas of how lighthouses shine their lights out to the ships nearby to let them know that they are close to land, is what was reflected within the scheme.
As well as linking the themes of navigation into the form of my building, it has been used within my circulation of the building, using it as a narrative to create its own constellation within my building, helping to create a new and exciting experience for the different museum visitors.
Adding in a new permanent exhibition, which explores celestial navigation, will help link the other maritime themed exhibitions together. This will aim to help particularly with educational visits, as it will not only allow the children to learn, but will help create an exciting way into being able to navigate their own way around the different museum spaces.
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By creating the viewing tower it will allow the Guildhall to become more of a landmark to Rochester, making it easily noticeable from the people coming on the train to both visit the town and just as people passing by on their way to London.
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Using a translucent material for the tower will also allow the tower to be illuminated by the internal lighting resembling the conceptual themes of a lighthouse.
