Wildlife Photographer of the Year

The Natural History Museum asked us to redesign their long-running Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition, in particular to present the works better, to raise daylight levels and to reveal more of the Victorian building. Their broad aim was to create a more open, engaged atmosphere for visitors.

We designed a layout of freestanding skeletal walls which form a series of rooms in counterpoint to the existing building. The walls are assembled from fine sections of poplar, trussed and braced, with a boarded central section as a backdrop to the works. The photographs are displayed in framed high colour-rendering lightboxes, with captions on angled steel plates.

The wood walls are crafted but reconfigurable; they harmonise with the colour of the terracotta, and step away to reveal the exquisite bas-reliefs of fishes and invertebrates. The transparent top and bottom sections allow the full expanse of the hall to be appreciated. The rooms vary in scale; at the centre of the largest room is a custom polygonal table, hosting the interactive ‘People’s Choice’ display.