The Design Museum is a minimal building located in London, United Kingdom, designed by John Pawson. The Design Museum’s new permanent home in west London sits within the skin of an existing building — the Grade 2* listed former Commonwealth Institute, designed by Robert Matthews, Johnson-Marshall & Partners, which opened in 1962. Driving the process of reclaiming this iconic example of post-war British Modernism as cultural space was the wish to preserve and enhance the original structure’s inherent architectural qualities, while also accommodating the full program of a contemporary museum.

Photography by Friederike von Rauch