Creating a world-class archive in a World Heritage Site

Project Insight

The new Herbarium, Library, Art and Archives wing provides excellent conditions for the priceless collection of dried plant specimens and rare botanical books and illustrations at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew.

The new wing secures the status of the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew as the world leader for the study of plant diversity and conservation. Climate-controlled vaults safeguard existing and future collections of herbarium specimens, rare botanical books, illustrations and archives.

It has also created opportunities for more people to make the most of its unique resources. A condition for funding for the new Herbarium – as part of a World Heritage Site – was to open the collections up to a wider audience.

Project Idea

A site of this sensitivity and importance called for detailed negotiation and consultation – including with the World Heritage Steering Committee and English Heritage.

The design was developed closely with those involved with the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew: the botanists themselves, as well as librarians and the publishing, IT and estates departments.

A detailed brief was taken to design specialist spaces for different users – and this included planning furniture and equipment layouts as well as selecting and designing special furniture.

Project Design

The new Herbarium is a beautiful, modern building and its curving forms sit sympathetically with a listed building and the magnificent trees on the bank of the River Thames.

The concept for the new Herbarium emerged from a contrast: a massive climate-controlled enclosure, and light and airy spaces for scientists working close to the collections.

There are now large rooms for research and collaboration and a reading room open to the public by appointment. A new entrance with a generous reception area, facilities for school groups, and a dedicated space for visiting researchers all attract and encourage visitors.

The palette of materials not only complements the old buildings, but also meets the functional requirements of the highly controlled environment needed for storing the collections.

Taking inspiration from both Kew Palace and the rubbed red bricks of the old Herbarium wing’s lintels and quoins, a fiery red brick clads the vaults holding the collections. The new building is linked to the old by a timber and glass drum, which houses a circular reading room, and the ground floor reception area is entered through a newly created south-facing courtyard.

Brick, cedar and a pale bronze aluminium curtain wall are used for the exterior elevations. Continuing the archive’s brick cladding into the interior points to the importance of the vaults. The red brick adds colour to the interior palette – a contrast to the cool concrete and white plastered walls. The concrete is fair-face to a high architectural standard – even the floor is bare polished concrete.

Superior quality extends to interior details such as a helical concrete staircase and bespoke joinery of dark stained oak with bronze ironmongery and fittings.