Dyrham Park Transformation
Client: National Trust
Project: Money, Maps and Marmalade, Sugar & Spice, A World Away and the Victorian Tasting Kitchen, Heritage Lottery funded.
Collaborators: National Trust teams, Haraclark (design), Lai Couto (design), SCENA (fit out), David Atkinson Lighting Design
TGAC, HaraClark, SCENA and graphic designer, Lai Couto are currently developing this exemplar National Trust Transformations project at Dyrham Park. It will deliver a new interpretive approach and suite of visitor experiences to complement a major architectural conservation and gardens reconstruction project.
A World Away, Money Maps & Marmalade, Sugar and Spice, and Tasting Kitchen augment the traditional house visit, offering immersive, programmable, active and participative experiences to uncover the story of the house’s creator William Balthwayt.
From cellar to royal bedchamber, visitors find the traces of its creator’s life and ambitions – revealed through the food in the larders, a wedding feast in the dining room, the wealth of books, artefacts and maps that reveal his career and influence, and the 18th century ‘fashion statements’ that characterise the house.
The interpretive strategy explores new research, contextual information, using sensory and immersive techniques to dramatise Blathwayt’s world through personal ‘encounters’ with people and events from the past.
Dyrham Park, a 17th century estate created by colinial administrator, William Blathwayt
with impressive art collections
and original furnishings.
Transformation planning with teams from the National Trust
Workshops with visitor services and volunteers
Unpacking aims and ambitions and testing ideas
Mapping stories and input
Activities for creative engagement
for all ages.
Projection mapped 'proscenium theatre' experience (image courtesy of Haraclark)
Immersive projection and soundscape experience in the kitchens (image courtesy of Haraclark)
Tabletop projections showing how food might have been prepared (image courtesy of Haraclark)
Experimenting with new layers of digital exploration and storytelling.