Arts & Culture \ Paisley Museum Extension

An invited competition for a reorganisation and extension of Paisley Museum. The building has had a complex history from its original neo-classical John Honeyman design in 1871 with various extensions to include a library to the west and additional galleries stretching up the hill towards "Coats Observatory" also designed by Honeyman and opened in 1882. An adjacent area of woodland was also part of the site.

Our proposals re-orientated the museum to be accessed by a new foyer which stretched from the bottom to the top of the hill. A new entrance immediately gave a view of this route. On the east side this gave access to galleries at the various levels whilst on the west the view was of a sequence of walled gardens. A ramp within the walls of the gardens allowed disabled access from top to bottom as well as the usual lifts in the interior. We anticipated each garden to be completely different from its neighbour and also to contain exhibits from the museum and a timeline of the town. The lowest garden, glimpsed over the wall from the street was a vegetable garden for the cafe located in it; itself intended to be a "healthy eating" exemplar. The end of both the internal route and sequence of walled gardens at the top of the hill was a circular cloistered court giving access to the observatory.