The Royal Academy of Arts

Friday 27 July 2018

Hannah Butlin
The Architecture Club member

Roger Zogolovitch, Honorary Surveyor to the Royal Academy, kindly gave a limited number of members from the Architecture Club a private tour of the newly refurbished RA by David Chipperfield Architects.

Having entered the building through the new Burlington Gardens entrance we met in the Collection Gallery, a new gallery dedicated, for the first time, to showcasing the Academy’s own artwork collection. It was formerly divided up into smaller rooms and partly used as offices and has now been carefully transformed into one large naturally lit space.

We made our way through the historic Senate Room, now a café and bar area, with its newly restored highly decorative ceiling and into The Architecture Studio, a space permanently dedicated to architecture – a first for the Academy.

The most invasive intervention of the refurbishment is arguably the insertion of the new lecture theatre, located in the same space at the original theatre, removed in the 1920s. This required the removal of both the ground and first floors in the east wing of Burlington Gardens as well as repairs to the original timber roof structure and decorative plaster ceiling.

Roger explained how the semi-circular amphitheatre-like seating was chosen to create a sense of intimacy and benches used instead of individual chairs to provide a flexible capacity, adjusted by how close people sit together. What is perhaps most striking are the large sash windows on three sides which douse the theatre in natural light through the acoustic curtains.

To make way for the auditorium, the British Academy Room had to be relocated. The timber panelling and domed plaster ceiling were carefully deconstructed, stored safely offsite and then seamlessly rebuilt in a purpose built new concrete extension just to the south of the lecture theatre, remaining on the same floor and in the same orientation.

Exiting the auditorium at ground floor led us to the centrepiece of the refurbishment – the new concrete link structure connecting Burlington House to Burlington Gardens – the cornerstone of the whole project. The fair faced concrete box forges a strong link between the two buildings, enticing visitors towards the new public areas which were previously back of house, and offering views out onto the private external gardens between the buildings.

Roger described how the new public link was intentionally thrust through the heart of the RA Schools – the oldest art school in the country. Now the public are able to walk through the school’s previously private space, improving public awareness of institution’s facilities and the students’ work.

Despite being a less high-profile intervention, the meticulously cleaned and restored vaults in the central undercroft, were no less impressive. The lowered floor creates a grand space, itself an attraction and exhibition space – not just a means of getting from A to B.

Our final stop was the former science examination rooms (when the building belonged to the University of London), now a series of three naturally lit galleries. As with any historic building, there were many surprises along the way (not all bad). Roger noted one fortunate surprise encountered during construction was the uncovering of the original stone floor in in the first of these rooms.

It was surprising to hear from Roger that, other than some contribution from the Heritage Lottery Fund, this grand and ambitious project was entirely self-funded.

Whist the link bridge was key to unlocking the site as a whole; it is clear that just as much attention was spent in helping the new spaces harmonise seemingly effortlessly with the existing. David Chipperfield Architects and the team have, through careful and thoughtful intervention and restoration, successfully united the RA’s two buildings and given them a new lease of life. In celebrating their 250^thanniversary, the RA can look forward to their future with optimism and confidence.