Manchester Jewish Museum
Manchester Jewish Museum
Project description
Transformation and redevelopment of the Grade II* listed oldest Synagogue in Manchester, as well as a new build extension to provide enhanced facilities and increase the museum’s reach.
The new Manchester Jewish Museum is double the size of the previous building and provides a new gallery , café, shop, kitchen and learning studio. The Museum particularly wanted to increase engagement with schools as well as a more diverse audience – the new facilities enable the achievement of these aims as well as a continued ability to deliver their vision as “a creative Museum willing to take risks and push boundaries, helping people to appreciate and celebrate the multicultural world we live in today”.
The project was supported by £6m from the National Heritage Lottery Fund and has since won a number of prestigious awards including RIBA and Civic Trust.
An exemplary project in which an imaginative client, an inventive architectural practice and a skilful project team have created a building which transcends the initial brief, restoring and preserving a historic synagogue, reimagining - in a new extension - the museum which tells its story, and opening up a wonderful cultural and social resource to the wider community. The generosity of the project - its desire to break down barriers and forge new connections - is truly inspiring. These aspirations have been more than matched by the ingenuity of the architecture of the new extension, affording this little building a very big presence, and giving it a unique, and memorable, identity.
