National Portrait Gallery

Our MEP design focused on maintaining appropriate environmental conditions for the preservation of art and minimising the use of energy in ways that are sensitive to the original features of this historic building.

Energy-saving measures have been adopted wherever possible, such as including heat recovery on ventilation systems, while existing galleries have retained and redeveloped the environmental and ventilation strategies already in place. Our interventions included incorporating new services to galleries and public spaces, discretely integrated and hidden behind building fabric, and respecting the architectural vision. We designed a ventilation system that recovers heat from inside the building and mixes it with fresh air, to minimise energy (by reducing the need for independent heating) while providing comfortable internal spaces. 

The lighting design gives more presence to the entrances, introduces daylight into the galleries, and addresses the problem of ‘gallery fatigue’ to create a flexible, characterful, energy-efficient and healthy installation across the site.

Many of the gallery’s large windows and roof lights had been blacked out in the 1930s. The windows remained shuttered to conserve the works and create more usable space below. Now, all of these have been uncovered and fitted with layers of light-filtering fabrics and films, so that the artworks are protected while allowing natural light into the galleries for the first time in decades.

Max Fordham built on our experience of designing and analysing daylit galleries at Westminster Abbey, Tate Britain and the Hayward Gallery to create high-resolution solar maps of the Gallery which simulate the contributions of sunlight and skylight 8,000 times over the course of a test year, using existing measured and future climate data. Each simulation requires the accurate tracing of over 200 million rays of light, and the team used the results to plan the exhibitions, design the artificial lighting and test different approaches to window and roof light treatments.

The outcome of this work is a gallery re-connected with its surroundings, one where visitors and staff can easily find their way about and where the subtle changes in natural light over the course of each day offer a uniquely healthy and stimulating visual environment.

Our acoustic design focused on creating a peaceful environment for users of the gallery. To aid the design of new areas for relaxation and education, we assessed noise from the nearby Charing Cross Road and vibration from underground trains.

We designed acoustically absorbent finishes to some gallery spaces to improve the experience for busy events and functions by controlling reverberation.