Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum
- Location
- Glasgow, UK
- Client
- Glasgow City Council
- Expertise
- Lighting
- Architecture
- Interior Design
- Completion
- 2005
- Cost
- £28m
The modernisation of the most popular museum in the UK outside London was part of Glasgow City Council’s commitment to make “Glasgow’s favourite building” more accessible, both physically and intellectually.
.jpg?u=2025-10-31T11:36:44.185Z&w=1280&q=90)
The museum, dating from 1901, houses one of the greatest civic collections in Europe. The brief called for the museum to provide 35% more exhibition space and to increase the number of objects on display from 5,000 to 7,000. The environment for existing exhibits and world class touring exhibitions needed to be improved. Access to the building needed to be enhanced, as did the opportunity for revenue from gift shop and café sales.
BDP’s proposal extends the exhibition space into the lower ground floor to create new space for the environmentally controlled introductory and temporary exhibition spaces. This level also provides a new home for a café and education suite. The solum was dug out to expand this floor, creating new space for a conference centre. A new north entrance connects Kelvingrove to its park, providing barrier-free access. A rationalised landscape and car park frees up space for recreation and improves the building’s setting. A sensitive glazed side extension provides the café with views of the University of Glasgow.
New stairs, lifts and toilets are seamlessly integrated into the structure of the building. Stone cleaning has transformed the building interiors, removing decades of soot and pollution, using technologies since used to clean fire damage from the stone of Notre Dame de Paris. New secondary glazing, interstitial blinds and upgrades to the roof and roof lights ensure the building provides a suitable environment for exhibits.
BDP worked closely with the exhibition designer, Event Communications, to create a cutting-edge display themed around Life and Expression, embracing the city’s social and cultural life. A Spitfire swooping over a menagerie of animals in the west court is balanced with a, now iconic, sculpture of suspended heads in the east court. Today, Kelvingrove Art Galleries and Museum remains one of the most popular museums outside of London and is visited by young families and university academics alike.
“There are a few memorable paradigm-shifting museums that come along in any lifetime... I add Kelvingrove to the list.”
