page_title: Commonwealth Institute
section_title: The building
hierarchical_section_title: Commonwealth Institute / The building
caption_attribution_description: Map of central Kensington in London. Made by me, Thomas Blomberg.
context_page_description: The Commonwealth Institute was an educational and cultural organisation promoting the Commonwealth of Nations that was based in Kensington, London. It was established, as the Imperial Institute, by royal charter from Queen Victoria in 1888 on Imperial Institute Road. Its name was changed to the Commonwealth Institute in 1958 and it moved to Kensington High Street in 1962. By statute, the operations were the responsibility of a Minister of State from 1902 to 2003 and the property occupied for the purposes of the Institute, and of the same name, was held separately by Trustees as a charity asset. In 1999, prior to the end of the statutory regime, arrangements were made for both the property and the operations to be transferred to a company limited by guarantee also called the Commonwealth Institute. The members were the representatives to the United Kingdom of all countries of the Commonwealth, the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs on behalf of Her Majesty's Government, the Commonwealth Secretary-General, and four independent UK citizens.
context_section_description: Built on a site of 3¼ acres with a frontage onto Kensington High Street of 125 feet (38 m), the total floor area of the building was 132,000 square feet (12,300 m²) made up of an Exhibition Hall (60,000 sq ft), Administration block (47,500 sq ft), Art gallery and ancillary rooms (5000 sq ft), cinema, stage and dressing-rooms (6000 sq ft) and basement workshops and storage (13,500 sq ft). The Commonwealth Institute was designed by Robert Matthew/Sir Robert Matthew, Johnson-Marshall and Partners, architects, and engineered by AJ & JD Harris, of Harris & Sutherland. Construction was started at the end of 1960 and completed in 1962.
  The project was funded by the UK government which was obliged to compensate the Trustees for the loss of the substantial Imperial Institute building (described by Louis Bondy as in the front rank of Victorian monumental architecture). Contributions of materials and grants from Commonwealth countries were sought to augment the small sum of money that the Exchequer had allowed for the new building. The exhibition designer was James Gardner, who worked on the Dome of Discovery in the influential Festival of Britain of 1951, and the gardens was designed by Sylvia Crowe. The contractor was John Laing Construction Ltd. The former Institute building stood on a piece of land acquired from the Holland estate on a 999-year lease for £215,000. The design of the building and gardens were strongly influenced by their proximity to Holland Park. The exterior and structure has been refurbished and the interior has been substantially altered to accommodate the Design Museum.
  Regarded by English Heritage as the second most important modern building in London, after the Royal Festival Hall, the building had a low brickwork plinth clad in blue-grey glazing. Above this swooped the most striking feature of the building, the complex hyperbolic paraboloid copper roof, made with 25 tonnes of copper donated by the Northern Rhodesia Chamber of Mines. The concept of creating a 'tent in the park' has often been quoted as the inspiration for the shape of the roof, however, according to Roger Cunliffe (the job architect), while Stirrat Marshall-Johnson (the architect partner-in-charge) always saw the building as being 'in the park', there was no conception of 'tent', and the phrase followed form and did not determine it. Its unusual design proved problematic, and it was said to have leaked from the outset. Other design and construction faults emerged relatively soon after completion, which in part stemmed from the restricted budget, and the building proved very costly to run and maintain. The gardens incorporated a large water feature, grass lawns, and a flagpole for each member of the Commonwealth. The interior of the building consisted of a dramatic open space, covered in a tent-like concrete shell, with tiered exhibition spaces linked by walkways. The diagonal, diamond-shaped exhibition block was clearly different from the rectangular administration wing and the junction of the exhibition and administration blocks created a considerable design problem.
  The Art Gallery measured 95x44 feet and relied primarily on natural lighting. A large picture window facing the park was included to postpone the desire for escape that the four solid walls of many art galleries quickly engender. The fragility of the structure however limited the weight of exhibits. The cinema beneath the art gallery was designed for daily showings of Commonwealth news and interest films but was adaptable for other purposes. It seated 450 and could be used as a lecture hall, and had a workshop stage and stage lighting for the staging of theatre productions.
  The building was listed Grade II* in 1988 for its roof, its place as a post-war building, its importance in the history of museum and exhibition design, and its historical significance in marking the transition from Empire to Commonwealth. The Sylvia Crowe landscape was entered in the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens in July 1998, but following the sale of the building it was removed. On 22 July 2005
caption: The location of The Commonwealth Institute
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