Design celebrates a ‘heroic’ period in landscape architecture

Walters and Cohen’s Gardens Pavilion has opened at the Horniman Museum in south-east London.

The scheme is part of a £2.3 million transformation of the museum and its 16.5ha gardens masterminded by landscape architects Land Use Consultants.

The building appears to float above the steeply sloping site and consists of two interlocking forms - an education and performance space clad in zinc with views over London from its floor-to-ceiling windows, and the other clad in larch and containing a kitchen, lavatories and store rooms.

In a statement the architects said: “Drawing inspiration from the adjacent Victorian bandstand, the new park pavilion harks back to a heroic period in British landscape architecture and celebrates the ‘life blood’ supplied by London’s city parks.”

The 16-month project was partly funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) and Big Lottery Fund.