Stirling Prize 2024 shortlist: National Portrait Gallery, Westminster, by Jamie Fobert Architects with Purcell

Designed by Ewan Christian, the National Portrait Gallery was the first portrait gallery in the world when it opened in 1896. A century and a quarter later, it has been revitalised to enhance the visitor experience and redefine the gallery’s relationship with the city.

The project is transformative yet respectful, stripping back unsympathetic alterations and taking cues from the original design to inform the new interventions. A key move is the creation of a new main entrance and forecourt on the Italianate north elevation, achieved by turning three windows into bronze doorways and adding an entrance bridge. This sets up a new arrivals sequence and access to a repositioned shop.

A thorough re-think of underused space has created 18% more public space, including the restoration of offices to galleries in the Weston Wing, and the creation of an enhanced lower-ground-floor learning centre. All galleries are restored with new showcases, plinths and seating, with particular emphasis on careful reintroduction of natural light. Unshowy and assured, this forensic reworking gives a much-loved institution a fresh way forward.

Can you outline your design process?

Jamie Fobert The open call competition was in 2017 with a shortlist of seven. What I liked was that the client gave a set of ambitions – to be more welcoming, more accessible, and to draw in more diverse visitors, to make the gallery relevant for future generations. The brief didn’t say whether it wanted a new entrance or where to locate the new learning centre. I loved that freedom. A competition should be about forming the concept of the project as much as resolving the complexities of a brief. Asking the architects to consider the whole - letting them think.

There was a clear sense that the client wanted a contemporary intervention that treated this Grade-I-listed building with great care. I’d worked with Purcell before and been very impressed with Liz Smith, so I approached her about teaming up with us. Our collaboration carried right through to the end. We presented together – I’d look to the future and Liz would safeguard the past.

What were the main architectural priorities?

Nicholas Cullinan, the then director, saw our role as having multiple conversations with the different architects of the NPG. It wasn’t meant to be an argument. At one point, someone said the scheme was polite, but who wants a rude building? I think the design is extraordinarily bold in how it turns the gallery to face the city, opening up the building both physically and socially. It is not aggressive; it is gentle and crafted in its detailing.

The original building had been relatively overlooked. It’s handsome rather than pretty with a boldness and strength of materiality. After the grandeur of the 1930s Duveen Wing and the Dixon Jones’ Ondaatje extension in 2000, which was distinctly modern, introducing a fourth contrasting style could be confusing. Our priority was to mediate between all the others and find an architectural language that could form links to the past, yet be contemporary in approach and detailing.

How did circumstances influence the design?

Our experience is that when you have an approach that prioritises the public, one that’s about making the building useful for another 100 years, Historic England is extremely supportive. We showed that the way we created the new entrance was an appropriate response. It helped that we were making a piece of architecture that was in the service of the gallery, rather than a self-indulgent display.

What else had a significant influence?

Looking back I can see there was a clear path that led to the project. My practice has designed more than 20 temporary exhibitions, working closely with curators to understand the relationship between the viewer and the work and its setting, and a number of temporary galleries. This all led to the Tate St Ives extension, which was based on an understanding of the needs of curators for the full spectrum of art practice, and what makes for a good visitor experience. At Kettle’s Yard in Cambridge, we made the learning centre double-volume and put it on the street. With each project, you understand something new about the qualities of gallery architecture. It meant we had confidence going into this project.

How was the design developed?

We looked carefully at Christian’s beautiful drawings to see his intent, and understand how this had been altered.

We held workshops with all the NPG teams. It’s important to really listen to people, but in the end, you need one decision-maker, and that was the director, Nicholas Cullinan, who was an extraordinary client – absolutely consistent, with an incredible vision and a wonderful sense of humour.

I always sketch freehand and build card rather than computer models. We were still making models six months before the end of the project for elements such as handrails and gallery seating.

Who were your most important collaborators?

Aside from Purcell, we brought to the project a trusted team we loved working with at Tate St Ives – Max Fordham and Price & Myers. Later, Nissen Richards Studio was brought in as the interpretation designer, which was a fantastic collaboration. We also worked with some incredible craftspeople such as Restore London, who did the mosaics and stonework, and Bassett & Findley, who did the bronze doors.

Our contractor was Gilbert-Ash, which was amazing, and could deal with things like late site discoveries. These can be a real challenge. But they also provide moments of pure joy – such as the discovery of an amazing terrazzo floor hidden beneath layers of construction.

How did the forecourt develop?

Creating the new public space on land owned by the City of Westminster was a great challenge. But we had broad support from the council and English Heritage on the basis that it would greatly improve the setting of the building.

The original gallery entrance was intimidating and opened onto a narrow pavement. It had no real presence in the city. Opening up the north facade for the new entrance let us create a little piazza for people to meet with gentle broad steps leading to three new doors. For this element of the project, the client was in fact the people of London.

Curiously, our competition entry was quite close to the final design, but we went down a different path before slowly came back to it through an incredible iteration of more than 60 models. In the end, I wanted it to be as simple as possible, in big chunks of Northern Ireland granite. The form of the bench is like the bend in Charing Cross Road by the gallery, an S-form that became a leitmotif. I’ve only ever seen the bench full – except in torrential rain – often with people who have no intention of going into the gallery.

Which other aspect of the project was particularly important to you?

At a time of climate crisis, it was important to make a transformative project without building very much. We created only 42m² of new build but transformed an underused 950m² into public space. I believe this is the most important strategy for sustainability there is. If that amount of space was waiting to be unlocked in the NPG, it’s probably everywhere.

See all six projects shortlisted for the 2024 RIBA Stirling Prize

Key data:
Contract value £28m
GIA 10100m²
Cost per m² £2,772