Regular architecture exhibitions will take place in dedicated new spaces after the £50m (US$78.3m, €69.7m) redevelopment of London's Royal Academy (RA) in 2018.
Plans by architect Sir David Chipperfield for the historic London site where art has been created and displayed for nearly 250 years, show the creation of new spaces dedicated to art, and old areas being made newly accessible to the public for the first time.
The RA is spread across two sites – Burlington House on Piccadilly and 6 Burlington Gardens. Three historic gallery spaces on the first floor south wing of Burlington Gardens are being refurbished to support the new innovative programme of exhibitions with a focus on living architects and artists, including Royal Academicians and the RA Schools, complementing the RA’s exhibitions in Burlington House.
The house and gardens will be architecturally joined by a linking bridge under the improvements scheme, creating a central route from Piccadilly to Mayfair. The new public route is intended to transform circulation across the site, giving visitors the chance for the first time to see the Cast Corridor of figurative casts and other elements of the building.
The plans also include the conservation of the neo-Classical façade of Burlington Gardens, one of the grandest unrestored buildings in central London. Apprenticeships schemes related to work on the façade and on the building during the conservation and preservation project are planned.
The RA’s education programme will gain a double-height lecture theatre with over 260 seats and enhanced facilities.
The project has been boosted by a grant of £12.7m (€17.7m, US$19.8m) from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) and support from private individuals, trusts and foundations.
"The project is an architectural solution embedded in the place itself, a series of subtle interventions which will add up to something very different," said Sir David Chipperfeld CBE RA, architect. “You will be able to go from an exhibition in Burlington House to a lecture in Burlington Gardens through the vaults of the building. It's a small amount of architecture for a profound result."
Work on the redevelopment is due to start in October 2015, to be completed in time for the Royal Academy’s 250th anniversary in 2018.
The exhibition programme for 2018 will be announced in the autumn of 2017. In the meantime, the RA 2015 Summer Architecture Programme will be announced shortly at
www.royalacademy.org.uk/page/architecture
