The National Railway Museum and Malcolm Reading Consultants (MRC) has announced the five teams shortlisted in the competition to design the museum’s new emblematic Central Hall, which forms part of the museum’s strategy to become the "world’s railway museum" by 2025.

The shortlisted teams are: 6a architects (UK) and OFFICE Kersten Geers David Van Severen (Belgium), Atelier d'Architecture Philippe Prost (France), Carmody Groarke (UK), Feilden Fowles (UK) and heneghan peng architects (Ireland). 

The 4,500-square-metre Central Hall will bridge the space between the National Railway Museum’s two main exhibition halls, integrating the museum estate for the first time in its history and creating an appealing and compelling arrival experience.

The new building, which has a £16.5 million construction budget, will also include reception spaces, as well as a spectacular 1,000 sqm gallery intended to showcase future acquisitions and innovative technology and introduce the museum’s world-class collection. 

Together with the museum’s other Vision 2025 projects, including the new Wonderlab, the Central Hall will enable the museum to renew its physical presence and identity and be the cultural anchor for York Central, one of the largest city centre brownfield regeneration projects in the UK.

Site Overview. Image © Ravage Productions / Malcolm Reading Consultants

The open two-stage competition welcomed both national and international integrated design teams, with competitors encouraged to demonstrate exceptional design talent, creative flair, sensitivity to the heritage context and expertise in sustainability. Seventy-six teams from 19 countries comprising 241 firms entered the competition’s first stage.

"Announcing the shortlist for Central Hall marks an important milestone in the realisation ofVision 2025 — our exciting and ambitious £55m plan to transform and reimagine the National Railway Museum. I am looking forward to seeing the design concepts and sharing these with our visitors and the communities around us," said Judith McNicol, Director of the National Railway Museum.

The five finalists will attend a site visit in November 2019 and will have three months to develop their design concepts, which will be displayed in a public exhibition in February 2020. The winner is expected to be announced in March 2020.

Museum. Image © Ravage Productions / Malcolm Reading Consultants

The teams were selected by a Shortlisting Panel led by Dame Mary Archer DBE, Chair of the Board of Trustees, Science Museum Group. No design was sought at the competition’s first stage — competitors made submissions based on past experience and team composition. 

Each finalist team that submits a compliant design concept will receive a £30,000 honorarium at the conclusion of the competition.

Details of the competition jury were also released: Dame Mary Archer DBE, (Chair), Chair of the Board of Trustees, Science Museum Group, Sir Ian Blatchford, Director and Chief Executive, Science Museum Group, Gitta Gschwendtner, Director, Gitta Gschwendtner Design Consultancy, Zoe Laughlin, Director, Institute of Making, Karen Livingstone, Director of Masterplan and Estate, Science Museum Group, Judith McNicol, Director, National Railway Museum and Malcolm Reading, Competition Director.

See detailed information about the competition on the website. 

Top image: Top row, left to right:Stephanie Macdonald and Tom Emerson of 6a Architects;Philippe Prost of Atelier d’Architecture Philippe Prost.Bottom row, left to right:Kevin Carmody and Andy Groarke of Carmody Groarke; Fergus Feilden and Edmund Fowles of Feilden Fowles; Róisín Heneghan and Shih-Fu Peng of heneghan peng architects. Images courtesy of the respective teams, apart from Carmody Groarke’s which is © CarmodyGroarke/Nicole Bachmann. 

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