6.12.11

Casson Mann awarded the contract to design a new flagship gallery for the National Maritime Museum in London

The permanent exhibition ‘Navy, Nation and Nelson 1688 – 1815’ will tell the story of the Royal Navy and its central role in the life of eighteenth century Britain. The gallery will set the life and career of Britain’s greatest naval hero Admiral Horatio Nelson within the wider story of the British people, intertwining national and naval histories.

Visitors will be able to explore how the Royal Navy changed the lives of ordinary people, shaped the course of British history and recast the nation’s self-image.

The exhibition will be installed in a 380m2 gallery in the heart of the National Maritime Museum’s main building. Scheduled to open in 2013, this gallery will be the first of two new naval galleries being developed as part of the Museum’s exhibition forward plan.

21.11.11

Casson Mann appointed exhibition designers for Treasures gallery at the Natural History Museum

Situated at the top of the Museum’s grand North Staircase – and opening in 2012 as part of the first phase of the Central Hall redevelopment – this new public gallery will be a celebration of the Museum’s greatest treasures: showcasing an intriguing and diverse array of specimens and natural history objects, artworks and cultural artefacts from the Museum’s extraordinary collection.

Casson Mann’s brief is to create a gallery that will highlight the connections between these incredible objects and the Museum: its building, history, collections, science, mission and people. Some of them will be famous and instantly recognisable. For others the interpretation will reward visitors, revealing incredible, surprising and important stories that describe the ways in which humankind has attempted to explore, understand and celebrate the power and wonder of nature.

Our response is to create a centrally placed, simple, dramatic, display plinth that has a clear relationship with the Museum’s very distinct architecture. The objects, each with its own unique story, stand alone on this plinth, displayed in individual cases, but held together by the strength of the single form: a modern interpretation of the traditional cabinet of curiosities.

This monolithic plinth, comprised of the undulating blocks of the case bases and the unifying use of polished and bush-hammered black basalt, will show off objects as diverse as a dinosaur tooth, a meteorite, and an emperor penguin egg collected by Captain Scott. The choice of stone is derived from the use of black stone for thresholds within the museum.

The stories behind each of the objects can be discovered through interactive digital labels alongside each case. These labels allow a layered approach to the interpretation and for the most engaging aspect of each to be boldly headlined on the front page. Predominant colour from full-bleed imagery will be light washed within each label stand. These moments of colour have a relationship to the stained glass windows of the gallery.

14.10.11

Casson Mann wins visitor experience project for The Centre for Wine Culture and Tourism, Bordeaux

We are delighted to announce that Casson Mann is part of the competition-winning team put together by Paris-based architects X-Tu to design the new Centre for Wine Culture and Tourism in Bordeaux. Due to open in 2014, it will be an ambitious international cultural destination and is part of a strategy to promote the city as the world capital of wine.

X-Tu approached us to join them in the competition and having beaten a longlist of 112, we went on to win the creative competition against 4 other practices including Toyo Ito & Associates and Ralph Appelbaum Associates.

Rather than a ‘black box’ exhibition space, the content, interior and exhibition design are integral to the building. To achieve this, Casson Mann is translating X-Tu’s architectural language of a ‘tourbillon’ (swirl) – its rotating sensuous structure evoking the motion of wine being swirled in a glass decanter – into an interior concept that is similarly fluid.

A hologram cinema, interactive elements, film, animation, historical source material, sound, aromas and large-scale installations will be woven into the architecture to create a rich narrative about the complex and fascinating history and culture of wine. From ancient civilisation to in-depth details of terroirs, from illustrious wine-lovers of the past to the relationship between wine and love, everything will be explored at the Centre.

10.10.11

Casson Mann appointed exhibition designers for radical re-design of IWM London’s First World War Gallery and Atrium Displays

Casson Mann are working with IWM (Imperial War Museums), alongside Foster + Partners, developers of the phased Masterplan for the re-development of IWM London, to create a new gallery dedicated to the First World War. Opening in June 2014, the new gallery will be a highlight of IWM’s commemorations to mark the First World War Centenary.

Through the new gallery, IWM aims to change the way that people engage with the First World War. James Taylor, Head of Research and Information at IWM said: “The challenge is to create ground-breaking galleries and displays that set new standards for narrative-based museums, and war museums in particular.”

Casson Mann intend to respond to IWM’s innovative brief by designing a gallery that will present a series of interesting and intimate moments between 1900 and 1929 that will collectively tell the larger story of the British Empire at war, its causes, conduct and immediate consequences. The gallery will tell contemporaneous stories, focused on the experiences of the individuals involved, both on the frontline and home fronts.

In order to make the subject as relevant and engaging as possible for generations with no memory or experience of war, the gallery will be both object-rich and highly immersive and interactive.

An online visitor experience will be designed in tandem with the gallery experience to offer supplementary information, and social media tools will allow user generated content to be incorporated into the galleries.

5.10.11

Dinah Casson selected new Master of the Faculty of Royal Designers for Industry

In 2007, both Dinah Casson and Roger Mann were made Royal Designers for Industry.

Widely regarded as the highest accolade for designers in the UK, the title is awarded to those who have achieved sustained design excellence, work of aesthetic value and significant benefit to society.

On 17 November 2011, Dinah will be inaugurated the new Master of the Faculty of Royal Designers for Industry. The appointment will last two years.

23.09.11

Dinah Casson shortlisted for the prestigious Prince Phillip Designers Prize 2011

The prize – the UK’s longest running design award, first awarded in 1959 – recognises a outstanding contribution to UK business and society through design. Previous winners include Kenneth Grange, James Dyson, Norman Foster and Terence Conran.

The prize is awarded on the basis of the quality, originality and commercial success of the designers’ work, along with overall contribution to the standing of design, and to design education.

Dinah was selected in recognition of the contribution she has made, over the course of more than 25 years, to environmental and exhibition design, along with her work as a trustee of the Creative Education Trust and teacher at design schools such as Kingston and the Royal College of Art.

The winner will be announced by The Duke of Edinburgh, at a ceremony at the Design Council on Tuesday 29 November.