Churchill Museum
Cabinet War Rooms, London, 2005
The Churchill Museum at the Cabinet War Rooms is the first museum in the UK that is dedicated to the life and achievements of a politician housed away from the setting of a private house. With no precedent to dictate what the public might expect from a ‘biographical museum’, Casson Mann set out to create an environment and experience that allows the visitor to feel like they are ‘meeting the man’ by meshing together a rich mix of documentation, artefacts, audiovisuals and interactives. Churchill’s 90 year life is divided into five ‘chapters’, which are arranged chronologically around the 850 square metre space, but starting, unusually, with Winston as “War Leader” from 1940 –1945.
As the museum is positioned as a diversion from the journey through the Cabinet War Rooms, an already well established museum, the starting date of 1940 has a spatial logic to it and it allows visitors to meet the man as they know him best before discovering more as they go through the exhibition. The installation is a highly successful fusion of technology and historic objects with 70 specially commissioned interactives.
A 17 metre long ‘Lifeline’ table cuts through the centre of the museum. This interactive surface allows public access to over 3,000 documents, photographs and film clips each related to a particular day in the 90 year life a remarkable man.
Client: Imperial War Museum
Size: 880 square metres
Casson Mann’s role: Lead Consultant, Exhibition Designer, Creative Direction – Software and AV
Team: Nick Bell Design (Graphic Design), DHA Design (Lighting Design), White Young Green (Structural Engineers), Liminal (Sound Design), Small Design Firm, Soda, Plant, Zeroh Design (Software Design), Elbow, Handsome Music (Filmmakers)