Wilkinson Eyre has won planning consent to build a £35 million museum to house the Mary Rose, the 16th century warship.

Portsmouth City Council approved the plans for the city’s historic dockyard on Tuesday as the Mary Rose Trust confirmed it had raised more than half of the £14 million in private donations it needs to fund the building.

‘We have the planning approval — we have demonstrated considerable success in raising half the money required and are buoyant that we can raise the remainder.’

Wilkinson Eyre’s building is intended to resemble a crafted, wooden jewelery box clad in timber planks, with the timber exterior painted black to reflect traditional English boat shed architecture.

The following project description is from the architects:

‘This museum by Wilkinson Eyre will permanently house the hull of the Mary Rose – Henry VIII’s flagship – which was raised from the seabed of The Solent near Portsmouth in 1982. The hull, currently in a dry dock, requires highly specialist environmental conditions to enable conservation to continue. The design therefore takes an ‘inside-out’ approach, cradling the hull at the center of the new museum. A virtual glass hull will be created alongside this to represent the missing section, within which the original artifacts will be displayed in context. Deck galleries will run the length of the ship, corresponding to the original deck levels and leading to further gallery space at the end of the dry dock. The new building will be roofed by a low shell structure that will be prefabricated and lifted into place over the existing ship hall. Following a major grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) in January 2008, the project is progressing with the museum expected to open in 2011, the 500th anniversary of the first voyage of the Mary Rose.’

Via: www.bdonline.co.uk.