Projects + Community + Centre at the Forks, Museum London

Since 1940, Museum London has been an instrumental part of London’s communal history. As the city’s predominant cultural hub, Museum London is constantly shaping itself to meet the requirements of the local population. Recently, a need was recognized to bring a functional, flexible, and fully accessible cultural space to the downtown core. To satisfy this need, the idea for the Centre at the Forks was brought to life to connect the interior experience with the exterior waterfront view. Previously, the Museum possessed two spaces that were underlit and, correlatively, under used. In order to maximize this space, the Centre at the Forks focuses on bringing natural light into this space. With London’s largest single panel windows, light not only floods this space but the lobby as well. The 17’ x 10’ x 1 3/4” thick glazing window units were installed in November 2017, with structural silicone. This space has been designed to be truly unique and highly flexible, as it can be partitioned to create smaller functional spaces as well. The newly added classroom and deck allow for teachable and multi-purpose functions to be a new focus of this space. These renovations not only modernized the museum but double their amount of flexible program space by 4,400 square feet. One of the most notable features of this project is the centre ellipse, designed to absorb sound in order to mitigate acoustic reverberation within the space. This feature adds a unique architectural element that makes the Centre at the Forks truly one of a kind. This project was designed as joint venture with Baird Sampson Neuert Architects Inc.