The new Lord Ashcroft Gallery, ‘Extraordinary Heroes’, which has opened at the Imperial War Museum this month, was designed by London design consultancy, Casson Mann.
The new gallery displays the world’s largest collection of Victoria and George Crosses, many of which have never been on public display before. 162 Victoria Crosses owned by the Michael A Ashcroft Trust are shown alongside the 48 VCs and 31 George Crosses already held by the Museum in a visually compelling and engaging display.
The VC was introduced by Queen Victoria in 1856 as the highest military decoration awarded to members of the armed forces of Britain and the Commonwealth countries, for extreme valour in the face of the enemy. The GC was instituted in 1940 by King George VI and is Britain’s most prestigious civil decoration for bravery.
Casson Mann was commissioned by the Imperial War Museum to design an engaging public gallery for the medals, that would examine the creation and awarding of both the VC and GC, using the citations and personal stories behind each. The design challenge was how to present the 241 medals, each of which holds a remarkable story, providing each with equal status, but without asking visitors to read 241 narratives with the sustained level of attention they all deserve.
By grouping the medals into types of action, Casson Mann, working with the Museum’s principal historian, found it is was possible to break the gallery journey down into more manageable sections. Each section then became a manifestation of a ‘quality of action’ - identified as boldness, aggression, endurance, initiative, leadership, sacrifice and skill. By giving an identifying quality to each of these sections through the selection of materials and related display techniques, the digestion of the vast quantity of information began to be possible.
Following a period of in-depth biographical research with the Museum, Casson Mann developed the design of each section around narratives focusing on the psychology of bravery. By using a dense mix of interactives, animated cartoons, film, sound, suggestive materiality and textures, the result is a gallery that is visually rich and immediately engaging.
As well as unexpected meetings with sharks, white rabbits, diving suits, Pinnochio and a cougar, this immersive new gallery allows visitors to discover the many extraordinary personal stories of heroism through interactive touch-screen exhibits linked to multimedia platforms of video montages and sound clips.
There are seven plinths supporting the seven sections. Clad with materials selected and treated to reflect their content, these march down the centre of the space defining the geography of the journey: ‘Boldness’ is clad with thick steel plate that has been blasted through by shell fire; ‘Aggression’ is clad with acid-treated sheet steel shards with torch-cut edges; ‘Leadership’ with polished brass pierced with machine gun fire; ‘Skill’ is clad with Portland stone with shrapnel damage from explosive charges; ‘Initiative’ is created from multiple laminations of builder’s grade plywood - the knots contextually suggestive of bullet holes, while ‘Endurance’ is a cage of rusted reinforcement bar.
Upon each plinth there are 40 medal stories, most told in individual cases but some thematically grouped and each laid out as an individual mis-en-scène showing accompanying medals, photographs and memorabilia. Each plinth has an interactive flat screen where visitors can read more about each medal recipient, see film clips, and hear interviews. There is also a vertically-mounted flat screen showing a sequence of photographic portraits of the medal holders whose stories are told on that particular plinth; together they form a line through the gallery, a single file of heroes marching slowly through the space. These make compelling viewing.
Inspired by the series of VC stories retold in the Victor comics in the 1960’s, and much read by Lord Ashcroft, Casson Mann have created two table-top interactive projections that have taken the graphic novel idea a bit further by animating the action, adding sounds and a voice-over, bringing the genre up to date to appeal to a new audience. These were produced by software designers ISO in collaboration with the Museum.
This gallery previously housed the ‘Crimes Against Humanity’ exhibition designed by Casson Mann in 2002. This has now been reconfigured by Casson Mann and moved to a another room on the second floor. To prepare the gallery for this new installation, Casson Mann installed a barrel shaped stretch-fabric ceiling in order to neutralise and simplify the complex roof structure and provide a simple backdrop for the arresting plinth displays beneath.
Exhibition Design: Casson Mann www.cassonmann.co.uk
Size: 291 sqm
Graphic Design: Graphic Thought Facility www.graphicthoughtfacility.com
Lighting Design: dha Design Services www.dhadesigns.com
Structural Engineer: Eckersley O’Callaghan www.eckersleyocallaghan.com
Showcases: Meyvaert Glass Engineering www.meyvaert.be
Exhibition Fit out: Scena Productions www.scenapro.com
Models: Berry Place www.berryplace.co.uk
Digital Interactives:
Clay Interactive (Everybody’s Story & Portrait Screens) www.clayinteractive.co.uk
ISO (Journey Interactive ) www.isodesign.co.uk
Spiral (Introduction) www.spiral.co.uk
