MLA - Museums and Art Galleries: Making Existing Buildings Accessible

The new book Museums and Art Galleries: Making Existing Buildings Accessible, published by RIBA and the Centre for Accessible Environments, confronts significant dilemmas faced by architects and their clients in making historic buildings more inclusive in response to contemporary access standards and regulations.
Co-sponsored by the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA)’s Renaissance programme and the Access Audit Corporation, this highly-illustrated, closely researched book examines the evidence from varied case studies and generates a set of guidelines specific to museums and art galleries. The book uses three Renaissance-funded museums as examples of innovative and inclusive design solutions: Hollytrees Museum of Colchester Museums; Dulwich Picture Gallery; Sunderland Museum and Horniman Museum.
Chris Batt, Chief Executive, MLA, said: “Museums and Galleries is a plain and simple testimony to the innovative and sensitive design solutions architects developed as they engaged with the dual challenge of preserving unique historic spaces and widening access for all. Far from being about ‘ugly ramps’, accessible design is fundamental to creating the inclusive and welcoming places we want museums, libraries and archives to be. ”
In several of the book’s case studies the story of the design solutions is told by members of the project teams who undertook the alterations. This revealed the decision-making process and how the needs of disabled people were balanced with the need to preserve the historic character of the buildings. High profile projects, such as the Queen’s House in Greenwich are examined in the same light as more modest ones, such as the Captain Cook Memorial Museum in Whitby, a small independent museum. This has resulted in a valuable compendium of successful, practical ideas.
The MLA played an influential role in this book’s creation, commissioning an architect and access consultant from the Centre for Accessible Environments in 2003 to undertake an illustrated study, Access with Elegance, at six museums and galleries in listed buildings. With this project, MLA challenged a widely held idea that providing physical access for disabled people both constrains architects and diminishes the beauty of the buildings on which they work. These case studies formed the core of Museums and Galleries.
The book is aimed at architects, conservators, owners, managers and trustees contemplating the alteration of historic buildings that house art galleries and museums, and its lessons are set to become the benchmark against which future projects are judged.
Chris Batt said: “Together we can make accessible design integral to every building and restoration project. Not only should design briefs emphasise access for disabled people, they should also require that architects demonstrate their competences in accessible design. Publications such as Museums and Art Galleries, those of the Centre for Accessible Environments and MLA’s extensive guidance on access for disabled people provide vital information that will spark the creative process.”

Email: annemarie.todaro@mla.gov.uk