inside london's design museum La Vida Interior Co.

after five years of construction, london’s design museum is set to open in its new home on kensington high street. the institution, which has tripled in size to 10,000 square meters, is housed within a landmark listed building that dates back to the 1960s. the museum’s interiors have been remodeled by john pawson, while other big names — including OMA — have restored the structure’s distinctive façade and roof canopy

the design museum’s complex renovation saw OMA, allies and morrison, arup and john pawson collaborate to bring the landmark building back into use. the original concrete floors have been removed, while the previously existing façade has been replaced with a double-glazed skin — significantly improving insulation and permitting daylight to enter. the new exterior has been detailed to resemble the original blue skin of the building, with matching mullions and a fritted pattern of printed dots

inside the museum — which forms pawson’s first major public work — a series of calm, atmospheric spaces are articulated around an oak-lined atrium. sightlines are oriented towards the structure’s hyperbolic paraboloid roof, which spans the length of the building, rising on the two opposing corners to create an overhead manta ray-like structure. to ease circulation, galleries, learning spaces, the café, and the events space are arranged around the central atrium.