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Five shops in four years.
The British Museum, in the Bloomsbury area of London, is a public institution dedicated to human history, art and culture. Its permanent collection of some eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. Unique in bringing together under one roof the cultures of the world, spanning continents and oceans. No other museum is responsible for collections of the same depth and breadth, beauty and significance.
Six million people a year step through the doors and their huge diversity presented both a retail opportunity and a logistical challenge. Lumsden was commissioned to design five commercial spaces over the space of four years, with the brief of “to provide the best design to fit the museum”. The design of their commercial spaces had to be sensitive to their sensational surroundings whilst practical and purposeful in how they function.
Retailers want a shop design that works for the staff, which means it then works for the customer. But we never compromised on the design excellence. Lumsden delivered to the word!
Roderick Buchanan
The collaboration with the British Museum focused on creating world-class destination retail for a world-leading cultural institution.
Callum Lumsden
Aligned with the museum’s heritage
Each individual shop has a distinct visual identity that respects the building’s rich architecture. The Book Shop and Great Court Shop are located in the award-winning glazed cultural square designed by Foster + Partners in 1994, while the Greenville Room Shop harmonises seamlessly with the listed interiors and focuses on selling premium products, including sculpture reproductions from the museum collection.