Pallant House Gallery appoints Wright & Wright Architects to create a new Collections Centre

Ruth Butler, Pallant House Gallery Trustee, is delighted with the appointment of Wright & Wright Architects after a competitive selection process that also shortlisted Carmody Groarke, Baines and Mitchell, ZMMA and HAT Projects.

With a strong community programme and the desire to improve and expand facilities whilst providing greater accessibility for both visitors and staff, the gallery instigated the process following the recent acquisition of a 19^th-century Coach House. Wright & Wright’s scope is to create a new collections centre in the Coach House to better preserve the Museum’s internationally celebrated collection of Modern British art.

Working with the gallery, Wright & Wright will transform existing spaces to enhance the visitor experience; create new learning, gallery and back of house spaces; improve accessibility for staff and the general public; and build on the gallery’s existing sustainability credentials.

Simon Martin, Director of Pallant House Gallery said ‘

We are delighted to be working with Wright & Wright Architects to develop Pallant House Gallery’s ambitious plans for the future. With such significant existing historic and modern architecture at the heart of a beautiful conservation area, we felt that Wright & Wright were the best practice to develop bold plans that will be sensitive and thoughtful, enabling us to better serve the needs of our diverse audiences and community, and to better care for and present our internationally-significant collection.’

The project is due to start on site in 2020 and is expected for completion in 2024.

Pallant House Gallery in Chichester is a leading UK museum that stimulates new ways of thinking about British art from 1900 to now. As well as an original and critically-acclaimed exhibition programme and a public programme with inclusion at its heart, the gallery houses one of the best collections of Modern British art in the country – all within a distinctive setting of an 18th century townhouse and a 21st century gallery.