Following an international competition win in 2003, Hoskins Architects prepared a 15-year masterplan to guide the redevelopment of the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh. The principal £47.4m phase of this work, incorporating all major architectural interventions, has been completed. Within one month of reopening the museum attracted over 500,000 visitors, far exceeding all anticipated visitor targets.
The grade-A listed Victorian building has been completely refurbished with new public spaces and entrances allowing the museum to reconnect with the surrounding cityscape. The stone-vaulted cellars have been reconfigured and opened up to create a dramatic public entrance hall with new stairs and lifts taking visitors up into the delicate cast iron structure of the original central atrium which has been reinstated as the main introductory gallery. A sequence of new voids and stairs create a clear promenade through the museum, drawing visitors up through all levels of redisplayed galleries to the new special exhibitions gallery and learning centre.
