The Science Museum Group Hawking Building opens
The £65m Hawking Building stores over 300,000 historic objects in a space equivalent to 600 double decker buses.
The Science Museum Group (SMG) has officially launched the £65m Hawking Building (formerly Building ONE), which holds the One Collection, held by the group.
Desco designed the mechanical and electrical services for the new Hawking Building, which is 20,000m2, and holds over 300,000 historic objects which have been studied and digitised for the group, then moved into the new purpose-built building in Wiltshire. The collection, which includes objects from science, technology, engineering and medicine, is open for guided tours for schools and research visits.
The facility has been designed to accommodate a minimum of 27,000m² internal space and utilises a mezzanine over a maximum of half the print. Over 80% of the SMG’s collection can be held at the facility which includes a storage hall, with 30km of shelving, conservation laboratories, research spaces, photography studios and flexible spaces that can meet the needs of different users.
The building, which is the equivalent size of 600 double-decker buses, was designed for storage, restoration and the maintenance of objects and documents and therefore specific internal air quality, temperature, and humidity control requirements were set by the SMG Briefing Document and specific room data briefing documents, to ensure all artefacts would be safely preserved in the facility. The Hawking Building allows the SMG to better store, conserve, research and digitise its collection, as well as improve the process of displaying items across the five museums in the group.
Several sustainable features were included in the design including photovoltaics, smart LED lighting, loading bay airlock and limited access points. 50% of the roof is covered with photovoltaics and a battery storage facility was built to store excess energy for use during hours of darkness.
The facility was funded by the Department for Cultures, Media and Sport and from HM Treasury as part of the £150m Blythe House Project, which saw items from the Science Museum Group, the British Museum and the V&A move from Blythe House to new facilities.
Photos courtesy of the Science Museum Group.