The Commonwealth Institute

The Commonwealth Institute – Description:

The Commonwealth Institute is a distinctive building on Kensington High Street south of Holland Park. It has a low brickwork plinth clad in blue-grey glazing surmounted by a complex hyperbolic paraboloid copper roof made with 25 tonnes of copper. The copper roof was restored in 2001 but has not regained its distinctive green colour; it is thought that this is because the oxidation of the copper is not occurring as quickly as it did in the 1960s when the building was first occupied because there are fewer corrosive sulphur compounds in the air. Since 2016 the building has been the home of the Design Museum, which moved here from its former premises at Shad Thames by Tower Bridge. Work on the conversion began with a ground breaking ceremony attended by the museum’s founder Sir Terence Conran on 18 September 2012.

The building is open to the public as the Design Museum; opening times are on the museum’s website.

The Commonwealth Institute – Getting There:

Address: 224–238 Kensington High Street W8 6AG

Nearest Underground Station: High Street Kensington (8 minute walk)

(click on station name to find other places to visit nearby)