London museum buildings: architecture designs

London Museum Buildings : Architecture

post updated 19 October 2026

Key Built Environment Developments in the British Capital, England, UK

We choose key examples of London Museum Buildings.

We cover completed London Museum buildings, new building designs, architectural exhibitions and architecture competitions across São Paulo and Brasil. The focus is on contemporary buildings but information on traditional buildings is also welcome.

We have 2 pages of London Museum Architecture selections with links to many individual project pages.

London Museum Buildings : news + key projects A-I (this page)

London Museum Architecture : J-Z

London Museums

London Museums Architecture News – latest additions to this page, arranged chronologically:

8 May 2024
British Museum international architectural competition news

image © Trustees British Museum
British Museum Western Range Architecture Competition
The British Museum has launched an international architectural competition to identify the design team that will help reimagine its gallery space for future generations.

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16 October 2023
Museum of London in West Smithfield

photo © Luke Hayes
New London Museum Smithfield Market
The Foundation Stone for the new London Museum was unveiled this at a special ceremony at its new location in Smithfield. It marks a key milestone in the project’s build to transform the historic buildings of Smithfield Market into a new museum, opening in 2026.

31 May 2023
V&A East Storehouse, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, Stratford, Borough of Newham, East London

image © Diller Scofidio + Renfro. Image courtesy of Victoria and Albert Museum, Londonn
V&A East Storehouse Building, Stratford

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11 Aug 2020
Imperial War Museum London Atrium with Ai Weiwei Artwork, Lambeth Rd, SE1 6HZ

photo courtesy of Imperial War Museum, Lambeth
Imperial War Museum London Atrium
In an historic event at the IWM London’s iconic Atrium the entire space has been taken over by an artist. Internationally renowned Ai Weiwei’s ‘History of Bombs’ is a site-specific work that explores a two dimensional rendering in exacting detail of fifty true to scale bombs and missiles.

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27 May 2016
Natural History Museum, South Kensington
Design: Alfred Waterhouse
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Natural History Museum London Transformation
Design: Níall McLaughlin Architects

image courtesy of architects office
Natural History Museum
Proposals to transform the surroundings of Alfred Waterhouse’s Grade I-listed Natural History Museum have been lodged with the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, reports the Architect’s Journal.

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4 Apr 2013
Churchill War Rooms, Imperial War Museum, Clive Steps, King Charles Street, London SW1
Design: Clash Associates

photo : Richard Davies
Churchill War Rooms
A bold and architecturally significant new entrance to IWM’s (Imperial War Museums) Churchill War Rooms, home to the award-winning Churchill Museum and Churchill’s Second World War bunker. The entrance acts as a beacon, highlighting the museum’s unique role in the nation’s history, while improving the visitor experience and way-finding for the public. An exciting addition to London’s architectural landscape, it will contribute positively to the identity and visibility of this historic landmark.

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Major London Museums Projects, alphabetical:

British Museum
Dates built: 1823-47
Design: Sir Robert Smirke

photo © Adrian Welch
British Museum Building
The Museum has a rich architectural heritage, the site has developed and grown at each stage of its history.

British Museum Great Court
Dates built: 1994-2000
Design: Foster & Partners

photograph © Keepclicking
The courtyard at the centre of the British Museum was one of Londons long-lost spaces. Originally an open garden, soon after its completion in the mid-nineteenth century it was filled by the round Reading Room and its associated bookstacks. Without this space the Museum was like a city without a park. This project is about its reinvention.

British Museum Building Extension
Dates built: 2009-
Design: Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners

photo : Joas Souza
British Museum Building Extension
The £135 m project will be the largest development onsite since the Great Court opened in 2000. This development will transform an under-utilised section of the site in the north west of the Museum, situated adjacent to the impressive King Edward VII Building which was completed in 1914.

Darwin Centre, Natural History Museum, west London
Date built: 2009
Design: C. F. Møller Architects

photograph : Torben Eskerod
Darwin Centre
The brief for the building had three key objectives: to provide a home for 20 million plant and insect specimens, to provide a working area for the research scientists and to enable the public to interact with the scientists and the collections. This has been achieved by providing visitors with an opportunity to go on self-guided tours in and around the cocoon, which gives glimpses of the research facility and the extent of the collections.

Geffrye Museum Redevelopment, east London
Dates built: 2009-
Design: David Chipperfield Architects
Geffrye Museum
David Chipperfield was announced as the winner of the design competition in 2009. A Heritage Lottery Fund application was made in the same year.

London Science Museum, South Kensington
Dates built: 2009-
Design: Wilkinson Eyre
London Science Museum
Expected to be completed in 2015, Museum of the Future is an architectural vision for the Science Museum that includes important new and updated galleries. With around 15,000 objects on public display, the Science Museum’s collections form an enduring record of scientific, technological and medical change from the past few centuries.

Museum of Garden History Redevelopment
Date built: 2008
Design: Dow Jones Architects
Museum of Garden History Redevelopment
The architects won an architectural competition in 2007 to redesign the Garden Museum. The competition brief asked for a new gallery space where temporary exhibitions could be housed in secure and environmentally-controlled conditions. It appeared to the architects that creating a dedicated place for the museum’s permanent collection was equally important, as the exhibits were frequently moved to make space for events. We developed a strategy which addressed both issues. The architects’ idea was to create a belvedere within the existing building. This houses the new galleries and provides a raised ground from which a new perspective of the existing building is attained.

Museum of London, London Wall, Barbican, London
Dates built: 1974-76
Design: Powell & Moya Architects
Date built: 2010
renewal: Wilkinson Eyre Architects
Museum of London Building
The innovative design increases the space by 25 per cent, creating an entirely new gallery by extending the Museum to meet the street along London Wall. Wilkinson Eyre has conjured a lighter space with the introduction of a window elevation by the Museum’s garden court to breathe new life and light into the lower level where the new galleries are situated. A glass frontage on London Wall allows visitors and passersby to see into the Museum from ground level for the first time, with the Lord Mayor’s State Coach, one of the Museum’s treasures, taking pride of place

Natural History Museum, South Kensington
Date built: 1881
Design: Alfred Waterhouse Architect
Natural History Museum
World famous neo-gothic building – a superb example of Victorian architecture – located in Albertopolis, west London’s museum quarter.

National Maritime Museum Extension, Greenwich
Date built: 2011
Design: C. F. Møller Architects
National Maritime Museum
C. F. Møller Architects has designed the extension of The National Maritime Museum in London, Britain’s seventh largest tourist attraction and part of the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site. The new wing, called The Sammy Ofer Wing – named after the international shipping magnate and philanthropist Sammy Ofer, who has funded most of £36.5m extension – was inaugurated on the 12th of July with the participation of among others the British Prince Philip. On Thursday 14th of July the extension opens to the public.

Victoria & Albert Museum, South Kensington
Date built: 1852
Design: various architects
Victoria & Albert Museum
A famous London building with many examples of contemporary architecture within – for example the entrance area and shop by Eva Jiricna Architects and various galleries by a range of design-led practices.

More London Museum Buildings online soon

Location: London, England, UK

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London is global capital of museums

Findings from the 2016 TEA/AECOM Theme Index and Museum Index from the Themed Entertainment Association (TEA) and the economics practice at global infrastructure services company AECOM.

London’s status as the global capital of museums has been confirmed by a new study. With four museums in the global top 20 by visitor numbers in 2016, the capital has achieved first place in the global list jointly with Washington DC, which also has four entries in the top 20.

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