Gainsborough’s House underwent a new extension to the Grade I listed birthplace of Thomas Gainsborough, providing new gallery space and a visitor centre.
2024 RIBA East — Building of the Year
2024 RIBA East — Conservation Award
2024 RIBA East Award
2024 Civic Trust Award
2023 AJ Architecture Awards, Cultural Project — Shortlisted
2023 Brick Awards — Shortlisted
Gainsborough’s House, the listed birthplace of English artist Thomas Gainsborough, served as a museum and gallery since the middle of the 20th century.
Eckersley O’Callaghan developed a cost-effective structural scheme for the design of a new annex, which sits alongside the 16th century building and revitalized the gallery, while accommodating complex site access and several design constraints.
In addition to careful repairs to the existing historic structure, the extra gallery space provided an exciting new visitor centre. The new building comprises one larger gallery space and several smaller gallery rooms, with supplementary office and storage areas, and views of the historic building from the upper levels.
We provided three separate full-building design options for costing at conceptual stages, each using different materialities for the building superstructure. These options were evaluated against sustainability, architectural merit, exposed aesthetics and cost benefit to the overall scheme.
One of the main challenges arose from a large neighbouring silk factory. The silk loom machinery emanates a significant vibration throughout the surrounding grounds and buildings. Several foundation approaches were reviewed in coordination with the acoustic consultant. We were able to achieve a design which was efficient and satisfactorily capable of removing the risk of vibrations propagating through the building foundations.
© Eckersley O’Callaghan 2025
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