Tag Archives: museums and heritage

The Award-Winning Burrell Collection

View of Upper Gallery Stonemasons

The Burrell Collection, located in Pollok Country Park in Glasgow, is home to the incredible decorative arts collection of Sir William Burrell. Hosting 9,000 objects, including archaeological relics, painting, jewellery and stained-glass windows from Europe and Asia, this vast collection of decorative arts was donated to the city of Glasgow in 1944.

After reopening in 2022 following a renovation and redesign, The Burrell Collection has been named the Art Fund Museum of the Year 2023, a prestigious award which comes with a £120,000 prize. Since reopening, the Burrell Collection has welcomed over 500,000 visitors and contributed an economic impact of £20m for Glasgow in its first six months.

This renovation was led by exhibition designers Event Communications, who sensitively designed innovative digital displays which offer new ways of understanding the art and objects in the museum’s new lighting scheme. We were directly appointed to create the lighting design for the museum, beginning work in 2016 before commissioning the scheme in 2022.

The challenge of the lighting design was to create a sequence of twenty galleries, showcasing star objects in the collection and bringing the lighting up to date without losing the wonderful natural daylight feel that was originally utilised. The building itself is much-loved and one of the star objects of the museum, therefore the lighting needed to be sympathetic to its grade listing and traditional features while also becoming suitable for a 21st century audience.

We worked very closely through mock-ups and sampling to ensure that both the magic of the building was retained, and that the visitor experience was enhanced, through delicate, considered and beautiful lighting. DHA installed and focused 800 track spotlights themselves to ensure a consistency of illumination throughout this unique space.

Illuminating The Oman Across Ages Museum

We Illuminated The Oman Across Ages Museum in Manah, Governorate of A’Dakhiliyah, a project commissioned by the Royal Court Affairs, Sultanate of Oman.

Opening in March 2023, by His Majesty Sultan Haitham bin Tarik, the museum foundation stone was laid in 2015 by the late Sultan Qaboos bin Said. The museum showcases the unique characteristics and historical significance of the Sultanate of Oman, comprising a knowledge center and auditorium, permanent and temporary exhibition galleries, a vast garden and several dining venues.

We were appointed by exhibition designers Event Communications for the lighting design and commissioning of the permanent exhibition project. The aim of the project was to reflect the modern country that Oman has become, while still retaining a sense of its authentic culture and identity.

The History Gallery tells the story of Oman from its geological formation to current era. For the lighting scheme, the brief was to create a sense of place throughout the hall. We achieved this by providing animated lighting, allowing the space to follow a day-to-night sequence that amplifies the natural history narrative. The striking design of the exhibition mirrors Oman’s rugged landscape, with the lighting revealing the space in the way that natural light does – creating various contrasting shadows and highlights as the day changes.

The second hall, the Renaissance Gallery, explores the social, political, economic and industrial transformation of Oman. The goal was to reveal the incredible technological advances of the country in a short time by marrying the lighting with sophisticated audio-visual displays.

Throughout, delicate and valuable historical objects, from archaeological collections to modern documents, were carefully lit to conservation levels, within display cases designed especially for the project. 

The lighting design will highlight the history and present day of Oman for years to come, illuminating visitors who come to learn about the culture.

DHA projects shortlisted at Museum+Heritage Awards 2022

We are delighted that no less than three of our recent projects have been shortlisted in the Best Permanent Gallery category at the Museum + Heritage Awards for 2022.

Each project (the Second World War & Holocaust Galleries at the Imperial War Museum, the Wordsworth Trust Museum in Grasmere & the Manchester Jewish Museum) have quite distinct content and tone, but all represent the absolute best in contemporary museum design, and we are pleased to have had a role in their creation. We particularly like to thank the designers for each project: Casson Mann for the Holocaust Galleries, Ralph Applebaum Associates for the Second World War Galleries, All Things Studio for the Manchester Jewish Musem and Nissen Richards for the Wordsworth Trust Museum for making us part of their design teams.

Beyond the designers, we worked with an excellent team of curators, conservators, interpretation consultants & contractors across all of these projects, so it is fantastic to see their work being recognised in this way. The awards will be presented on 11th May at an actual, live ceremony, so it’s even more good news that industry events are finally returning to normal!

Pre-Raphaelite Sisters opens at the National Portrait Gallery

DHA Designs have just completed work on the National Portrait Gallery’s latest exhibition, the Pre-Raphaelite Sisters, featuring some of the most famous women in art. But unusually, this time the exhibition tells the story of the women who featured in the works – the muses, models, partners, artists & relations who inspired, sat for & even worked among this most famous group of artists.

The exhibition has received 4-star reviews in the Telegraph, Time Out & Evening Standard, who called it ‘riveting’ & ‘addictive’.

It is open from now until the end of January 2020.

More information, and tickets, can be found on the gallery’s website here.

Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Galleries open at Westminster Abbey

DHA Designs have completed the lighting design for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Galleries in the triforium space at Westminster Abbey. Set more than 50ft above the Abbey floor, the medieval Triforium has never been open to the public before. Over 300 treasures from the Abbey’s collection will illustrate the rich thousand-year history of the institution.

Read The Times 5-star review here.

Read The Guardian’s review here.

The galleries open to the public on 11 June 2018.