Science Museum Wroughton Masterplan

PRS together with Dominic Cole Landscape Architecture were appointed in July 2022 as Landscape Architects in collaboration with STS for The Open NCC Physical Works, part of a broader Open National Collections Centre (NCC) Project comprising a number of deliverables such as: establishing a programme of public and school tours, a community engagement project and developing the necessary systems for accessing the collection both in person and remotely. The National Collections Centre (NCC) is the Science Museum Group’s (SMG) hub for collections management, care, research and engagement and is near Swindon.

The Open NCC Physical Works will consist of a series of pragmatic design interventions to existing buildings and the landscape to improve facilities for our staff and visitors.

1. Welcome

2. Landscape and Outdoor Interventions

3. Getting Around

4. Interventions to Existing Buildings

The site is a former 545-acre RAF airfield, located 5-miles south of Swindon near the village of Wroughton. Situated in the North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, it has far reaching views across the landscape. The site includes five clusters of buildings of predominantly 1940s MOD construction. The buildings include 10 large aircraft hangars, 2 purpose-built storage buildings and over 40 smaller buildings. These are mainly used for collections storage and are a base for people working at the site. An incomplete perimeter road and a series of runways link the clusters. The remainder of the site comprises a 183-acre 50MW solar farm and a series of fields and woodlands, bounded by a security fence.