Objects on show at the British Museum are the tip of an iceberg: the 80,000 antiquities in almost 100 galleries represent just one per cent of the collection. Half is stored on site, while another four million objects were historically kept at separate archives in London. The British Museum Archaeological Research Collection (BM_ARC) was conceived to consolidate some of these scattered artefacts, improve their care, and expand access for both researchers and the public.

Building in context
Developed in partnership with the University of Reading – which has an outstanding archaeology department – the 15,628m2 ‘super-store’ occupies a site adjacent to the university’s Thames Valley Science Park in Shinfield, Berkshire. Its form responds both to its use and its sensitive setting among gently undulating fields, ancient hedgerows and woodland.  

Built in a single phase – with the option for future expansion – and covering an area larger than two football fields, the BM_ARC is arranged as three long parallel blocks, each with a shallow pitched roof presenting a gable end to the site entrance on a quiet country lane. The three wings are staggered in plan to further break down the building’s apparent scale and create a sheltered forecourt to welcome visitors. 

Clad in black zinc, with black stained timber louvres in the gables, the wings recall  the weatherboarding of rural barns and make a dark backdrop to a bright, naturalistic landscape of new trees, hedges and wildflower meadows that help to integrate the development with the surrounding countryside. 

Collection care
Overall, the building houses 1.2 million objects. A structure of wide-span portal frames creates column-free interiors for flexibility in the internal arrangement of the three blocks. The two primary wings house storage and conservation areas for large-scale objects such as sculptures, mosaics, historic casts and archaeological assemblages, with sufficient height and space for in-situ treatment. The third contains a dedicated loans hub, along with comfortable study and research rooms arranged around an internal courtyard, where visitors can handle holdings ranging from rare Inca textiles to nails from the Sutton Hoo ship burial.

Vulnerable materials such as textiles and iron require stable conditions. A high-performance building envelope with very low air permeability ensures that internal conditions change slowly and predictably, reducing both risk and energy use. The building is all-electric and incorporates rooftop photovoltaic panels to generate renewable power.

Ecological landscape
The site is adjacent to St John’s Copse, an area of ancient woodland, and the landscape design sought to preserve existing ecological assets such as hedgerows and mature oaks, and to replace the monoculture of arable land with a rich tapestry of native copses, hedgerows, meadow and wetland areas. Biodiversity is supported by a range of measures to protect wildlife, from nesting boxes and badger gates to amphibian ladders in gulleys.

The landscape also makes a vital contribution to rainwater attenuation. High volumes of stormwater are gathered from the building’s 1.7-hectare roof, and conveyed through a system of underground storage tanks, swales and reed beds before discharge into nearby watercourses.

Offices overlook a courtyard garden set into one of the wings, bringing the natural environment of birch, ferns and ornamental grasses right up to the workspace of conservators and visiting academics. In keeping with the building’s agricultural character, a simple palette of robust materials was selected for external areas, including brushed in-situ concrete pavements and galvanised steel furniture.

Breaking new ground
BM_ARC is the first completely independent building created for the museum since Sir Robert Smirke’s neoclassical design was completed in Bloomsbury in 1852. It is also the first building specifically designed to allow comparative study across ancient civilisations. As museums worldwide seek ways to make their collections more accessible, BM_ARC pioneers a new type of cultural building, and sets the standard for better care of our heritage.