15 May 2018
London's Design Museum crowned European Museum of the Year
BY Tom Anstey
London's Design Museum has been named the winner of the European Museum of the Year Award.
Moving to its new £85m (US$115m, €96.4m) home in Kensington's former Commonwealth Institute Building in 2016, the museum was reimagined by architecture firm OMA, along with Allies and Morrison and interior designer John Pawson.
Since moving, the museum has become an "inspiring, socially-aware museum", according to the awarding judges, who also acknowledged the museum’s "significant social impact on the community".
"Without losing its identity, this museum was able to renew and strengthen its public values, reopening with a wide range of new exhibitions along with an intense programme of activities, providing an impressive and memorable experience for its visitors of all ages, achieving accessibility of the highest quality," said the judges.
"It sets its collections in the context of global technological and cultural knowledge, providing a high level of interactivity, establishing an important democratic and multi-layered intercultural dialogue."
The awards ceremony took place at the Polin Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw, which was named European Museum of the Year in 2016. The Kenneth Hudson Award, which recognises "unusual and daring achievement", was awarded to the Estonian National Museum in Tartu. The Silletto Prize for excellence in working with the local community and volunteers went to Croatia's Betina Museum of Wooden Shipbuilding.
Close Window