AOC wins contest for new galleries at Bradford Science and Media Museum

Bradford’s National Science and Media Museum has picked AOC for a new £2.9 million suite of Sound and Vision GalleriesThe London firm was selected ahead of an undisclosed shortlist of rivals to win the estimated £430,000 commission, which will transform the museum’s foyer and third and fifth-floor gallery spaces while also creating a new passenger lift within the West Yorkshire visitor attraction.The 1,000m² project, backed by the Science Museum Group and planned to complete in 2024, will deliver a ‘visually stimulating and immersive’ exhibition space for permanent collections focusing on media technologies that transformed the modern world.Gill Lambert, director at AOC said: ‘We are delighted to be working with the National Science and Media Museum on this significant redevelopment project.‘Through developing the masterplan, reimagining the visitor experience and transforming the galleries we hope to support the museum in its vision to become both a world-class destination and an essential public place for the people of Bradford.‘The new galleries will celebrate the fantastic collection of photography, film and sound technologies, displayed in a way that creatively engages its audiences and nurtures the opportunity for shared collective experiences.’First opened in 1983, the museum features seven exhibitions and about 3.5 million items from photographic, film, television and gaming history in its archive. Ab Rogers Design won a contest in 2017 to design a new £1.8 Million ‘Wonderlab’ gallery for the museum.The appointment comes two years after AOC won the Science Museum Group’s competition to design a £2.9 million gallery at Locomotion, Shildon .Elsewhere, the group is also part-way through a £60 million regeneration of the Science Museum in London, which has included a mathematics gallery by Zaha Hadid Architects, a library and research centre by Coffey Architects , an interactive gallery by Muf , a suite of medical galleries by WilkinsonEyre, an events space by Duggan Morris (completed by Mary Duggan Architects), an auditorium by Dow Jones Architects and an entrance by HAT Projects.The latest project will create a new series of innovative and engaging Sound and Vision Galleries inside Bradford’s National Science and Media Museum featuring key objects from the museum’s collections including microphones, cameras, speakers and screens.Alongside creating the new third and fifth-floor gallery spaces, the winning team will also delivery a new passenger lift and will remove an outdated ‘Life Online’ gallery in the museum foyer.The winning team will furthermore carry out a high-level spatial assessment of the wider museum looking at ways to reconfigure gallery, office and commercial spaces.Jo Quinton-Tulloch, director of the National Science and Media Museum, said: ‘We are thrilled to reach this significant milestone of the Sound and Vision project with the appointment of Agents of Change to bring our world class collections to life in new and exciting ways.‘By working collaboratively with our local audiences, the development of the new galleries will connect our community to our world class collections and truly reflect that Bradford is the youngest and one of the UK’s most diverse and fastest growing cities.‘The project will also give us the vital opportunity to realise the Science Museum Group’s mission of making STEM education open for all, helping to close some of the disparities caused by the pandemic and providing fantastic opportunities for our communities.’