Wellcome Collection is growing
The Wellcome Trust is investing £17.5 million
in creating new spaces and improving facilities for Wellcome
Collection. One of our key ambitions is to develop a more immersive
experience for visitors who want to explore our themes in greater
depth.
Stirling Prize-winning architects Wilkinson Eyre will expand the
venue and connect the new public spaces using a dramatic spiral
staircase. The improvements, which are due to begin in August 2013
and finish in summer 2014, will offer spaces for:
Seeing – There will be 30 per cent
more gallery space and a new thematic gallery showing year-long
exhibitions with changing displays and activities.
Doing – A new studio will allow the
programme of live activity to expand and include more high-quality
activities produced by 14-to-19-year-olds.
Delving – The iconic Wellcome
Library Reading Room will be transformed into a showpiece for the
building. There you can explore Henry Wellcome’s extraordinary
collections and exchange ideas.
Indulging – Beside the Reading Room
will be a new restaurant, perfect for relaxing and refreshing with
friends and colleagues.
Researching – The Wellcome Library
will continue to offer an outstanding environment for researchers,
with an expanded Rare Materials Room and new study spaces. Soon we
will also unveil our plans for a new Hub for interdisciplinary
research on the 5th floor, and a new Spotlight events programme to
encourage expert engagement.
Curiouser and curiouser
Wellcome Collection has become one of the
fastest-growing cultural spaces in London. We now receive half a
million visits a year and remain hugely grateful to our visitors,
who are at the heart of our success.
Since opening, we’ve staged 17 major temporary
exhibitions – including Skeletons, Dirt, High Society and
Brains – alongside a varied weekly events programme.
The highlights of our first five years include
Jennifer Sutton seeing her heart on display in The Heart
exhibition, Bobby Baker leading a ‘Peas Protest’, Billy Bragg
writing and performing the soundtrack for our gig/play/installation
Pressure Drop, visitors sewing pigskin at our ‘Flesh’ event, two
million people playing our online games Axon and High
Tea, a ‘Feast to Cure Melancholy’ in the Library Reading Room,
live surgery and live tattooing. The full list is dizzying.
We’ve invited you to walk, talk, listen,
debate, laugh, cry, shout, sing and think. Wellcome Collection is a
curious place to be, and it’s only going to get curiouser.
Find out more: your questions
answered.
Share your most curious experiences of Wellcome
Collection with us on Facebook and
Twitter.
Read our press release.