900 Years: The Restoration of Westminster Abbey

Status: 1995
Location: Westminster Abbey

Client: The Dean and Chapter of Westminster Abbey
Value: Confidential

 

“Stanton Williams’ approach to exhibition design is based on the architectural principle of creating a certain quality of internal space conducive to contemplation, and then placing the objects in that space to be interpreted freely by the viewer.”Clare Melhuish in Design Week

 

In the summer of 1995, Westminster Abbey and Westminster Cathedral both mounted their own displays designed to commemorate 900 and 100 years respectively of existence as flagships of British religious life. The treatments of each were quite different.

Stanton Williams concentrated on the no-frills Church of England principles in managing to encapsulate almost 1000 years of history in a compact display designed to be as unobtrusive as possible.

Located in the adjacent church of St. Margaret’s, 900 Years: the Restorations of Westminster Abbey, was designed with white-painted false walls, white muslin and a false floor, concealing all its original features. The exhibits were displayed abstractly on a wide shelf and cantilevered from screens.

 

Credits
Photography: Peter Cook