National Motor Museum
Subscribe now to instantly view this image
Subscribe to the Architects’ Journal (AJ) for instant access to the AJ Buildings Library, an online database of nearly 2,000 exemplar buildings in photographs, plans, elevations and details.
Already a subscriber? Sign in
Looking from the musuem entrance to the information centre
Museum that also includes a monorail, information centre, administration building and library, in a conservation area in Hampshire
The museum required a monorail, and this was designed to run through the building horizontally. This meant the roof had to be designed at two levels to accomodate it, so a double glazed pitched roof is supported by its own columns inside the building.
The outer roof is also glazed, so maximum light can flood the building. The juxtaposition forms a cruciform shape in the ceiling, which lights up the central area whilst keeping the exhibits safe from direct sunlight.
The museum itself is roughly divided into three parts, sectioning the genre and chronological order of cars on display. It is one storey but the 'control platform' is on a mezzanine level. The roof is supported by steel spine girders which extend at the corners to form entrance canopies.
The steelwork is exposed and painted orange, whilst the roof is aluminium. The museum's walls are punctuated with steel slit windows, which give an indirect wash of light on the walls.
The information centre works like a railway concourse: entered and exited via the car park and the circulation route. It then connects onto the John Montagu building which contains the offices and library of motoring. The centre has a timber curtain wall and its steelwork is exposed, whilst the John Montagu building is made from concrete blockwork.
Data
- Begun: Dec 1970
- Completed: Jul 1972
- Floor area: 59m2
- Tender date: 1966
- Address: John Montagu Building, Beaulieu, Brockenhurst , Hampshire , SO42 7ZN, United Kingdom
Professional Team 
- Architect: Leonard Manasseh and Partners
- Project architects: Christopher Hulls, Ian Baker, Leonard Manasseh
- Client: Montagu Ventures Ltd., Trustees of the National Motor Museum
- Planning: Elizabeth Chesterton
- Structural engineer: Felix J. Samuely
- Display: Sir Hugh Casson
- Landscape architect: J. St Bodfan Gruffyd
- Quantity surveyor: Venning Hope & Partners
- Graphics: James Sutton
- Lighting consultant: Concord Lighting