Currently under construction in the north-west corner of the British Museum's Bloomsbury quadrangle, the World Conservation and Exhibitions Centre will provide new galleries, storage facilites and conservation studios within a nine-storey structure conceived as a cluster of pavilions.

Referencing both the nineteenth and twentieth century architecture of the museum, Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners designed a steel-framed building clad with a mixture of stone and glass. The height of the roof will align with the eaves of the existing building, while three of the storeys are to be buried underground.

The Sainsbury Exhibitions Gallery will occupy the ground floor of the new building and will be accessed via the north side of the Norman Foster-designed Great Court. The column-free rectangular gallery will feature a large door to allow access for larger exhibits, as well as a series of floor-to-ceiling windows that can be easily screened to protect light-sensitive objects. The space could also be subdivided to house smaller exhibitions.

Other floors of the building will be dedicated to conservation of the museum's collection. The uppermost floor will contain top-lit studios for working with smaller artefacts, such as metal, glass or ceramic objects, while additional laboratories and offices will surround a two-storey atrium in the lower levels of the building and will be used for examining larger objects.

The three basement floors will function as a storage and lending hub for over 200,000 items. Each floor will contain a study room, plus a 16-metre truck lift will allow items to be transported in and out of the building.

"The World Conservation and Exhibitions Centre represents a vitally important combination of a purpose-built exhibition gallery and a celebration of the amazing behind-the-scenes activities," said architect Graham Stirk. "These facilities will be contained in a bespoke twenty-first century building that provides the next stage of the museum's evolution."

The World Conservation and Exhibitions Centre will complete in March 2014 and the Sainsbury Exhibitions Gallery is scheduled to open with an exhibition dedicated to the Vikings.

London firm Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners (RSHP) is led by Richard Rogers in partnership with Graham Stirk and Ivan Harbour. Other recent projects by the firm in London include the NEO Bankside apartment blocks beside the Tate Modern art gallery and a fabric walkway over the roof of the O2 Arena. See more architecture by RSHP on Dezeen.

Here's an update from the British Museum:

British Museum celebrates progress on the World Conservation and Exhibitions Centre development

With less than a year to go until the first exhibition opens in the new exhibitions gallery, the British Museum today reveals the extent of progress on the construction of its new capital project, the World Conservation and Exhibitions Centre (WCEC). Designed by Rogers, Stirk, Harbour + Partners (RSHP) and constructed by Mace, the new Centre will cement the British Museum's reputation as a world leader in the exhibition, conservation, examination and analysis of cultural objects from across the globe. The WCEC will enable the Museum to build on current successes, to store, conserve, study and display the collection for the future.

Located in the north-west corner of the Museum's Bloomsbury estate, the WCEC is one of the largest redevelopment projects in the Museum's 260 year history. The Centre will provide a new public exhibitions gallery, state-of-the-art laboratories and studios, world class stores for the collection, as well as facilities to support an extensive UK and international loan programme. This will rationalise and greatly improve the Museum's operations on-site, and modernise facilities 'behind the scenes'. These will allow the Museum to extend support to our UK and International partners in terms of increasing capacity for staff training and joint projects.

The building consists of five pavilions (one of which is sunk into the ground) and the design is sensitive to the British Museum's existing architecture, connecting to the historic building whilst maintaining its own identity. The exhibitions gallery is due to open in early March 2014 with a new exhibition devoted to the Vikings (supported by BP). It is anticipated the conservation studios, science laboratories, loans hub and stores will be fitted out and occupied by summer 2014.

The total cost of the project is £135 million. The Linbury Trust, established by John Sainsbury (Lord Sainsbury of Preston Candover KG), and the Monument Trust, established by Simon Sainsbury have together committed £25 million towards the project, one of the largest gifts to the arts in the UK in recent decades, which will be used to fund the exhibition gallery. The Heritage Lottery Fund has committed £10 million towards the project. Other significant benefactors include the Wolfson Foundation, the Garfield Weston Foundation, the A.G. Leventis Foundation and the family of Constantine Leventis, the Clothworkers' Foundation, the Fidelity U.K. Foundation, Sir Siegmund Warburg's Voluntary Settlement, the Band Trust and others as well as continued support from the Department for Culture Media and Sport (worth £22.5 million over 4 years). A fundraising campaign from the British Museum Members is underway.

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Up at the O2 opened this summer ahead of the Olympic games, offering visitors the opportunity to don specially designed "roof suits" and climb up to a viewing platform on the peak of the roof, 53 metres above the ground.

Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners developed the concept for the walkway, while Bblur Architecture took over to deliver the project in collaboration with engineers Buro Happold.

Climbers begin their ascent on the south side, where stairs and a glass elevator lead them seven metres up to a starting platform equipped with uniforms and harnesses.

From here, they can climb up onto the fabric walkway, which is held in place by a system of tensile cables.

Once they reach the top, visitors are faced with a panoramic view of London's skyline, before they make their descent down the northern side of the building.

"Up at the O2 is a unique experience which millions of people will enjoy," said Mike Davies, senior partner at Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners. "It is both an exciting challenge and a truly special view of London."

The O2 Arena, originally named the Millenium Dome, was designed by Richard Rogers Partnership in the 1990s, before the studio rebranded as Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners in 2007. It comprises a domed fabric structure held in place by bright yellow masts and tensile cables.

The firm recently completed NEO Bankside, a set of six-sided apartment blocks in London, and also received the Stirling Prize in 2009 for designing a Maggie's Centre for cancer care.

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See more photography by Edmund Sumner on Dezeen, or on the photographer's website.

Here's some more text from Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners:

The ‘Up at The O2’ experience, originally conceptualised by architects Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners with engineers Buro Happold, features a tensile cable and fabric walkway that will take climbers on a thrilling journey over the venue’s roof, that includes breathtaking views of the City from a purpose built viewing platform mounted on top of the iconic structure.

The groundbreaking roof walk project, a partnership between AEG, owner and operators of The O2 and O2, the UK’s leading communications company, is unlike anything else ever constructed in the UK and draws on all of the delivery team’s specialist experience with large scale tensioned cable and fabric structures.

The climbing experience begins on the south side of The O2 where ISG has constructed a staircase and glass lift connected to a platform 7.5m high. From here the fabric walkway, built by Base Structures and designed by Buro Happold with bblur Architects, suspends above the existing fabric structure to its apex with a lanyard cable and hand rail running the full length of the walkway.

Climbers will be provided with ‘roof suits’ and harnesses at a pre-tour induction, enabling them to be attached directly to the cable as they climb to the top. At The O2’s apex, 53m above ground level, there is a 12m diameter viewing platform with a panorama plate to direct climbers to key London landmarks. The roof walk then extends to the north side of The O2 where climbers descend to ground level.

The high level of accessibility for Up at The O2 was inspired by Helen Keller’s famous words: ”Life is either a daring adventure or nothing”. Buro Happold’s Inclusive Design experts worked closely with client and disabled groups (The O2’s All Access Advisory Forum) to question assumptions about climbing and to create an attraction that is truly inclusive. A key driver in its delivery has been to make the experience exciting, fun and safe for everyone within the technical constraints imposed by both equipment and safety. Step-free access means that anyone, including wheelchair users who enjoy the demands of climbing, will have the opportunity to experience this amazing challenge.

Place: London, UK
Date: 2007—2012
Client: AEG
Concept Architect: Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners
Design Architect: Bblur
Engineer: Buro Happold
Main Contractor: ISG
Specialist Fabric Consultant: Base Structures

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London firm Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners has completed NEO Bankside, a set of six-sided apartment blocks beside the Tate Modern art gallery on the edge of the River Thames.

Like the Centre Pompidou and many other buildings designed by studio founder Richard Rogers, the four towers feature external bracing systems that form a steel diagrid across the facades.

These supports carry the weight of each structure, preventing the need for load-bearing walls inside the building and in turn allowing flexible layouts on different floors.

"A key feature is the external bracing, which allows a fantastic amount of flexibility inside the apartments," explained Graham Stirk. "All the walls internally are non-structural, which means we have been able to open up the floor-to-ceiling space much higher than in a conventional apartment. That has enabled us to maximise daylight and the views."

The towers range from 12 to 24 storeys in height and all four feature balconies on the north and south elevations.

"The four pavilions make up a family of buildings, a series of four towers of different heights bound by a very strong three-dimensional geometry," said Stirk.

The exposed steel structure is also intended as a nod to the industrial heritage of the area, which was once home to a large oil-fired power station (now Tate Modern).

Behind the braces, the walls feature a grid of glass and timber panels that are strategically positioned to give floor-to-ceiling windows to the living rooms and bedrooms of the apartments contained inside.

Above: 3D diagram

Glazed lift towers are also placed on the outside of the structure and rise up the west facades. "Everyone can move through generous lobby spaces and enjoy the ride and the river views in the glazed external lifts going up to their apartment. There's something really quite nice about that," added Stirk.

Above: concept diagram one - routes north to south

The development provides 217 apartments in total and and is surrounded by gardens and pathways designed by landscape architects Gillespies.

Above: concept diagram two - diagonal views

Richard Rogers Partnership became Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners in 2007 and has since completed the Stirling Prize-winning Maggie's Centre for cancer care and the Bodegas Protos winery in Peñafiel, Spain.

Above: concept diagram three - elevator locations

Above: typical floor plan

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Photography is by Edmund Sumner.

Here's a project description from the architects:

NEO Bankside

NEO Bankside comprises 217 residential units in four hexagonal pavilions ranging from 12 to 24 storeys and a six-storey office block, located next to the Tate Modern, one of the most visited museums in the world.

All the buildings of the scheme take their cues from the immediate context and it is the quality of the entire ensemble – rather than the individual parts – which creates drama.

The overall design hints at the former industrial heritage of the area during the 19th and 20th centuries, responding in a contemporary language which reinterprets the colouration and materials of the local architectural character. The steel and glass pavilions fit perfectly into the Bankside landscape; oxide reds of the Winter Gardens echo those of Tate Modern and nearby Blackfriars Bridge, while the exterior's timber clad panels and window louvres give the building a warm, residential feeling. The pavilions' distinctive external bracing system has removed the need for internal structural walls and created highly flexible spaces inside the apartments. The bracing is located outside of the cladding plane allowing it to be expressed as the distinct and legible system which gives the scheme much of its charismatic language. Glazed lift towers provide all occupants great views of London and the river, and a dynamic expression of the vertical circulation on the eastern side of each building. Winter gardens are enclosed, single-glazed balconies at the north and south ends of each building, suspended from the main structure on a lightweight deck with large sliding screens. They act both as enclosed terraces and additions to the interior living space.

A generous public realm is also created at ground level with landscaped groves defining two clear public routes through the site connecting the riverside gardens outside Tate Modern through to Southwark Street. The permeability through the site was a key driver of the design and the imaginative arrangement of the pavilions provides residents with generous accommodation and maximum daylight.

Landscape designers Gillespies has created a series of richly-detailed garden spaces around the footprint of the apartment pavilions. The final landscape features soft planting inspired by native woodlands, balancing beautifully with the contemporary lines of the buildings. Unusually in the heart of a city, the outdoor spaces offer NEO Bankside's residents opportunities to engage with nature, and create a new micro-ecological environment in this established urban setting. The elegant and peaceful landscaped gardens integrate NEO Bankside with the neighbouring Tate Modern and its surroundings, and provide public access during the day as well as a secure, private environment for residents to enjoy.

Gillespies' landscape design was developed to provide optimum private residents' gardens, while separating them distinctly from the public routes. An innovative landscape strategy was introduced from the outset to define the threshold between private and publically-accessible spaces. This definition has been achieved through the use of richly-planted berms, pebble-lined moats, stone-lined cuttings and narrow walkways that combine to create a strong sense of identity for the site. The long planted berms are a recurring signature that channel north/ south movement and act as a threshold between private and public space, dissected by a network of residents' pathways. The berms also complement Tate Modern's landscape, binding this site into its wider context.

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See a skyscraper in London completed by Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners earlier this year.

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See the proposals here »

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