Pawson triumphs as Design Museum winner

From bdonline.co.uk…

The new Design Museum will embody the spirit of minimalism after John Pawson was selected in an international competition to transform London’s grade II* listed former Commonwealth Institute building.

Pawson triumphed over the shortlisted David Chipperfield, Tony Fretton, Stanton Williams, Caruso St John, Haworth Tompkins and Dutch firm Claus en Kaan following a long-delayed Ojeu contest.

As BD went to press, the Design Museum had made no official announcement of the result, despite predicting a practice would be appointed in February.
Nevertheless, rival firms rushed to congratulate the winner while Sunday Times architecture critic and RIBA Journal editor Hugh Pearman predicted Pawson’s approach would complement RMJM’s 1962 Kensington building, the subject of a wider commercial development drawn up by Dutch firms OMA and West 8. More…