A woman sitting on a couch in front of a decorative wall hanging depicting a woman and two peacocks in the Jahangir room at the Commonwealth Institute

Date:: 6 Nov 1962

Location:: Commonwealth Institute, Kensington High Street, Kensington And Chelsea, Greater London Authority

Reference:: JLP01/08/064005

Type:: Photograph (Negative)

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Description

Laing built the Commonwealth Institute between October 1960 and October 1962 to replace the former Imperial Institute that was to be demolished to make way for new facilities at Imperial College. The building consisted of a four-storey administrative block housing a library, restaurant, board room and conference hall and a separate two-storey b lock containing a cinema with an art gallery above, but the focus of the project was the exhibition hall with its hyperbolic paraboloid roof, the first of its kind constructed in Great Britain. The exhibition, designed by James Gardner, provided spaces where each of the Commonwealth nations could showcase their achievements and characteristics, primarily to school children as teaching aids to enliven history and geography lessons.

This image was catalogued as part of the Breaking New Ground Project in partnership with the John Laing Charitable Trust in 2019-20.

Content

This is part of the Series: JLP01/08 John Laing Photographic Collection Black And White Negatives; within the Collection: JLP01 John Laing Photographic Collection

Rights

Keywords

Mid 20th Century Exhibition Hall, Mid 20th Century Art Gallery, Mid 20th Century Office