The Design Museum
We went to look around the new home of the Design Museum. Originally the building housed the Commonwealth Institute and was designed by RMJM (Robert Matthew Johnson Marshall) in 1962. Fast forward 48 years and enter John Pawson, who’s job it was to update and reconfigure the interiors, and Rem Koolhaas’ OMA, who were responsible for the structural works. The star of the show (perhaps somewhat ironically) comes in the impressive form of the distinct roof line which spawned design lovers favourite word of 2016, ‘hyperbolic-paraboloid’. I say ‘ironically’ because when you have someone like John Pawson creating an interior for you it’s hard to think that anything could upstage that but Pawson’s monastic palette of pale grey terrazzo, oak and marble draw your eye upwards and does a great job of celebrating the original architecture.