The Sir Joseph Hotung Gallery at 115 meters in length is the longest gallery in the British museum and displays its collection of Chinese and South Asian antiquities. We delivered a scheme that shows the beauty of the classical architecture and scale, creating a real sense of wonder on entering the gallery and delineating the space between periods and themes. 

The central area around the oculus accommodates large groups of visitors that assemble  before being led through the gallery. This area is characterized by a more open, welcoming atmosphere with significant vistas down both halves of the gallery  - to the east, China, to the West, South-east Asia. We developed a strategy to control natural light with window screens, to keep the airy and open ambience that has always defined the space, but reduce the amount of glare around the window bays allowing more focus to the displays, giving clear priority to the objects in the visual field. Luminance levels also had to adhere to conservation constraints so that in some bays works on paper could be displayed that had never previously had a place in the gallery.

The existing scheme was visually monotonous and appeared quite institutional. We wanted to create dramatic vistas but also use the bays to create more intimate viewing spaces. We took inspiration from the original decorative scheme of suspended lights and developed a new bespoke element in brass and a new laser cut stone technique to create suspended fittings at the entrance of each bay. These provide a soft ambient glow whilst maintaining the luminance levels on the objects.

We replaced the existing track layout, using spotlights with high spec LED fittings that featured high CRI and glare control accessories throughout. We collaborated closely with the designers to develop a bespoke showcase lighting strategy, considering the vast array of object types and sizes on display. We designed bespoke solutions to allow each object to be seen at it’s best. Alongside we used slim LED light-sheet technology for the graphic panels to achieve excellent accessibility. We designed a 100 per cent LED scheme to achieve the highest energy rating possible and  control is integrated in the case structure with maintenance and access details addressed accordingly.