OMA's Commonwealth Institute scheme revealed

OMA (office for metropolitan architecture) has recently revealed its proposed new build and refurbishment scheme for the Commonwealth Institute in Kensington. After the original grade II listed building, was threatened to be demolished after a government's proposal to delist it, a plan was created to reinvigorate the site while preserving the historic structure.

OMA's winning £150 million scheme sees the removal of the administrative buildings and entrance structure of the existing 1960's building, which according to the public exhibition board will “liberate the main exhibition hall, enabling the modernist monument to be fully appreciated as a ‘tent in the park'”. The proposal also includes three orthogonal residential blocks, featuring balconies and recessed terraces at the edge of Holland Park. They will be of six, eight and nine storeys high, containing a total of 63 units, and clad in tiles of varying size and material.