Orleans House Gallery
Allen Scott were commissioned to design the landscape works associated with the new primary entrance, relating to a major refurbishment and enhancement to this public art gallery and museum in Richmond upon Thames. The Grade 1 Listed Octagon Room demanded the highest quality landscape, so surrounds and proposals were developed in consultation with English Heritage, the client, and specialist external access consultants.
Influenced by the elegant integrated steps and ramps found at the main entrances to the Victoria & Albert Museum and William Morris Gallery, the landscape strategy was based on a series of highly detailed and sensitive contemporary interventions using natural materials, in order to ensure the integrity of the buildings and setting were preserved and enhanced, and to re-establish clear and intuitive access arrangements. In the wider grounds, new accessible routes, parking, trails and planting add to the range of educational activities available.
Client: London Borough of Richmond
Role: Landscape Architect
Value: £2m
Key Elements: listed buildings / historic gardens / access improvements / planting design / interpretation
RIBA Stages: 1-6
Partners: Kaner Olette / The Morton Partnership / Donald Insall / Glevum Consulting / PT Projects / ZMMA / Martin Thomas Associates
Awards: Georgian Group Awards / Arts Prize Fund
From a dilapidated and nearly forgotten jewel, hidden by the River Thames in Twickenham, to a thriving hub of arts exhibitions, classes and events. Michael Kaner (initially with Patel Taylor Architects) and the team at Kaner Olette have overseen the enacting of a masterplan over the course of twenty years, and multiple phases.
Working with conservation architects, Donald Insall Associates, the degraded Octagon Room has been meticulously restored. A new North Wing replaces the poor 1960s extension and the original West Wing has been refurbished to maximise utility for the gallery, whilst minimising any potential for harming the Grade I Listed building. Further to the north, the stables were given a new life as a café, and the coach house has become an exemplar space for arts education and events.
The masterplan is intended to reinstate a new logic to the layout of the site (after the loss of the main house in 1926 for gravel extraction) centred around the beautifully restored James Gibbs-designed Octagon Room. The Gallery now serves as a beacon of art and culture for West London.