Last week we were fortunate enough to take a look around the Commonwealth Institute as it stands today. Now, a vision of the long-neglected building and its surroundings as it will look once it re-opens as the new home of the Design Museum.
The masterplan for the Institute's regeneration is being drawn up by Dutch practice OMA, hence the images focus largely on the exterior (the building's innards are being remodelled by minimalist Brit architect John Pawson, himself the subject of a recent retrospective). The most conspicuous additions are the three low-rise residential blocks; regrettably, one of them is parked right in front of the Institute, effectively cutting off views of the building from Hammersmith Road.
Still, full marks for using tiny little figures for the interior images, avoiding (for the most part) those white silhouettes that many lazier firms rely on.
