How Museum of London will rise again beneath capital’s streets

PLANS have been unveiled for the new Museum of London which will see its vast collection put on show in a series of underground chambers beneath the streets of Smithfield.

A blueprint for the redevelopment of a group of buildings in West Smithfield, including the disused general market and fish market, has been developed by architects Stanton Williams and Asif Khan, who won the competition to design the museum’s new home.

A dome on top of the general market, which has been closed for more than 30 years, will be lifted up to provide a landmark directly above a set of spiral escalators that will twist down underground, c arr ying vi s i t ors into the rooms used to store produce when it was a working part of the market.

The plans, which are still to be finalised, also include proposals to link the spaces below ground with a tunnel going under the Thameslink tracks that run under the site, a sunken garden and a well reaching down to the waters of the River Fleet, which flows beneath the streets of Farringdon.

A railway siding, from the days when meat was transported to the market from the docks, still exists and could become home to a historic engine, reflecting the importance of the railways to London’s growth.

Architect Paul Williams, of Stanton Williams, said the design was influenced by the “idea of going down into the sedimentary layers of the past”.

He said the move would protect the museum’s collection from light damage and “free up” the site above ground to become “an amazing platform for the museum”.

Museum director Sharon Ament said she wanted to see it “spilling” into the streets around t he buil di ngs. She added: “The most important thing is this is a museum about London so the streets, the buildings, the underground, is all the stuff of our museum.

“We can’t ignore the building. Many cultural institutions will inhabit old buildings despite the building and give it a new life, which is often wonderful, but they forget its origins and we can’t and won’t do that.”

She said the building, replacing the current museum in London Wall, would let more of its collection go on show. An application for planning permission is expected to be submitted in 2018 with the museum set to open in 2022.