Can you visit all of Max Fordham's London museum and gallery projects in a day?

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Woman looking at colour art posters

As part of our 60th anniversary celebrations, we challenged energy, sustainability and engineering journalist Imogen Bhogal and architectural filmmaker Dion Barrett to visit as many of our London museum and gallery projects as they could in a day.

Did they make it to all of them? You'll have to watch till the end of the film to find out.

© Dion Barrett / Architecture.Film

Since our founding in 1966, we have always worked across multiple sectors, but our work on some of the UK and the world's most sustainable public buildings and cultural institutions is often something for which we are best known.

As Imogen, our host, says "we had to put in place some boundaries, so we've limited ourselves just to London, just to museums and galleries, and just to projects that they've worked on in the last 20 years. That is still a staggering list, so this is going to be a really fun, but challenging, day!"

Imogen travelled by foot, bicycle, bus, tube, cab and boat - including over 30,000 steps - to try to visit as many of our biggest central London museum and gallery projects as she could in one day.

Her journey started at Tate Modern and took her across London (and back again), including visits to Southbank Centre, The Courtauld Gallery, National Portrait Gallery, Natural History Museum, and finishing with a boat along the Thames from Tate Britain to Royal Observatory Greenwich.

“Spending time within iconic and historic buildings, home to the world’s most breathtaking art, is such a privilege. To see the quiet ingenuity that Max Fordham weaves into these magnificent spaces is even more profound. What a joy it was to attempt to try and visit as many projects as we could and how humbling to know that, despite an almighty effort, we merely skimmed the surface!”

Imogen Bhogal Energy, sustainability and engineering journalist
Woman waiting to board a tube
London underground sign indicating "Way out" for "Museums"
Woman riding a bike over a bridge
Imogen Bhogal speaking to the camera on Millenium Bridge in front of Tate Modern
Imogen in a cab
Imogen waiting for a boat
View of Tate Modern from the boat

“Trying to capture all of Max Fordham's cultural projects in a single day was always going to be an impossible task, but equally tricky was filming what they actually contributed. Their work has a habit of disappearing into the architecture, felt in the atmosphere of a space, but rarely visible to the eye… or camera!”

Dion Barrett / Architecture.Film Architectural filmmaker

This film features just a snapshot of our recent cultural projects. You can read more about the eleven projects featured in the film, and our engineering behind them, below:

External view of Tate Modern Blavatnik Building
Imogen outside Southbank Centre
External view of Somerset House and The Courtauld Gallery
Imogen outside London Transport Museum
Imogen outside National Portrait Gallery
Imogen outside National Gallery, with crane in the background
Imogen in the garden at Natural History Museum, with Fern in the background
Imogen outside the Weston Tower at Westminster Abbey
A woman crossing the road towards Newport Street Gallery
Imogen in front of Tate Britain
Imogen in the dark speaking to the camera

“We’ve had a few stretches where we’ve picked up some speed, which is great because it really is a race against the light now.”

Imogen looking at portraits
Imogen in Royal Festival Hall
Imogen in one of the galleries at The Courtauld
Imogen walking through London Transport Museum, surrounded by buses
Imogen in one of the galleries at National Portrait Gallery
The inside of the Garden Cafe at Natural History Museum
The inside of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Galleries
Inside of Newport Street Gallery
Inside the atrium space at Tate Britain

“It'll probably be dark by the time you finish!”

Taxi driver, when asked if he thought the challenge was possible in a day

We've also worked on museums and galleries all over the world, including:

As well as many theatres and other cultural institutions, such as:

“We did try and I think we made a valiant effort. I’ve reached 30,000 steps and more than that, I think we’ve just had an incredible day seeing some fascinating history in the city and seeing the incredible engineering that’s keeping it alive.”

Imogen Bhogal Energy, sustainability and engineering journalist

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