Studio MB

09/08/2024

09/08/2024

Many thanks to Experience UK for the article on StudioMB's next chapter. With a new director on board and developing plans for a London office, you can expect to see our involvement in even more exciting global projects, including the Arni Magnusson Institute in Iceland and the National Bank of Kuwait.

Click the link below to find out more:

https://www.experienceuk.org/members-news/studio-mb-embarks-on-a-new-era-of-experience-design

22/07/2024

FROM COAL TO CULTURE...

Fantastic article in the Financial Times featuring The Auckland Project, Faith Museum & Spanish Gallery included. Well worth a read if you have a spare moment.

Bankrolled by a wealthy financier, the former mining town in County Durham is opening galleries, museums and smart new places to stay

03/07/2024

AD GEFRIN WINS AWARD AT SDA2024

The Studio MB team are proud to have been awarded the Silver Award for Experiential Design at the Scottish Design Awards for creating Northumbria’s newest visitor experience, Ad Gefrin Anglo-Saxon Museum & Whisky Distillery.

Our client provided us with an extraordinary opportunity to not only bring the rich history of Northumbrian kings and the Anglo-Saxon to life, but also to tell the story of Northumbria’s first whisky in 200 years.

We worked closely with the Ad Gefrin team to create a museum & visitor experience that is informative & educational using a variety of display & immersive techniques, from graphics, custom display cases to AV, sounds & scents. (You can read more about the museum, distillery, restaurant & retail elements in previous posts).

Our lead contact at Ad Gefrin, Dr Chris Ferguson, Director of Brand and Experience said -
“Working with Studio MB to create Ad Gefrin Anglo-Saxon Museum and Whisky Distillery was an absolute joy from beginning to end.We are delighted that Studio MB scooped a silver award at the 2024 Scottish Design Awards for their brilliant work. As always innovative designers they worked closely with our team to realise a unique immersive experience that really brings to life Northumberland’s Anglo-Saxon ‘Golden Age’ and our wider showcase of the heritage, ancient hospitality and contemporary crafts, arts and produce of the region. Many congratulations to the whole Studio MB team.”

Creating an award-winning visitor experience such as Ad Gefrin is not something Studio MB deliver in isolation & we want to name check Freakworks, Pixel Stag, Click Netherfield, Leach Graphics, KDR Projects, Sysco, Mark Hewitt at Myriad Creative, Michael Grubb Studio, Finn McCallum Stone Carving & Astley Signs & thank them for their input & assistance. Finally thanks to the extraordinarily motivated client team for enabling us to ensure Ad Gefrin Anglo-Saxon Museum & Whisky Distillery offers its visitors that something a little more unique & worthy of, we hope, many more awards.

27/06/2024

ALL SET FOR SDA2024

David, Mhairi, Amy & Craig stepping out in style & on their way to the Scottish Design Awards in Glasgow for an evening highlighting the best design & architecture Scotland has to offer. Fingers crossed for the two projects our team delivered that are shortlisted in the Experiential category.

25/06/2024

SCOTTISH DESIGN AWARDS 2024

It’s Award week! We’re proud to have two projects shortlisted in the Experiential category of the Scottish Design Awards - The Faith Museum & Ad Gefrin.

The Faith Museum is part of Auckland Castle, once home to the Prince Bishops of Durham; a place where the material & spiritual have combined since pre-Roman times.

Leading visitors on a journey through history, the Museum tells the story of faith in Britain across six millennia kindling curiosity, raising universal questions about our place in the world & relate to one another.

Four dynamic galleries explore key moments, people & ideas that have impacted Britain. Rarely seen objects, national treasures, personal mementoes & contemporary art commissions provoke enquiry & reflection. These objects have been chosen to show the nature & impact of something seemingly invisible & intangible: if faith is something we cannot perceive physically, can evidence of faith be found?

The Ad Gefrin Distillery & Visitor Experience, located in the heart of Wooler, Northumberland, is a brand-new whisky distillery, museum & impressive experience of Anglo-Saxon Northumbria.

More than 1,000 years ago, Northumbria was the most powerful kingdom in all England, ruled from Bamburgh Castle & the Royal residence of ‘Ad Gefrin’ in the nearby Glendale Valley. The museum experience introduces visitors to the rich history of Ad Gefrin, which had almost become lost until its rediscovery in the 1950’s. To tell this fascinating story visitors begin by being welcomed into an immersive recreation of the Great Hall, complete with replica weaponry & the royal thrones.

Moving to the museum you can explore the story in greater detail through a collection of carefully curated selection of artefacts from the area many of which are of national significance. These are set to a backdrop of illustrated scenes depicting key events the chronology of the site of Ad Gefrin - a story broken down into seven main themes, nature, language, creativity, worship, power, lost & found.

From the museum you embark on the distillery tour to find out what’s involved in creating Northumbria’s first whisky for 200 years. The guided tour includes the Cask Store where the process is brought to life from the first drops of rain to the bottling of the spirit through interactive digital AV & illustration. The tour climaxes within the Tasting Room, an immersive space where you can taste the various spirts being produced on site.

Good luck to all the nominees. Fingers crossed.

06/06/2024

D-DAY

80 years ago today saw the beginning of Operation Overlord, allies using over 5,000 ships & landing craft to land over 150,000 troops on Normandy beaches as well as airborne forces parachuting into drop zones across Northern France - the largest naval, air & land operation in history.

We were proud to be able to create a place where personal accounts of people who were there are brought to life with our client D-Day Story Museum, including one of the landing craft (seen here). The D-Day Story museum is marking the anniversary with a series of poignant events honouring the memories of those who played their part in D-Day. You can find out more in the link below.

https://theddaystory.com/

hashtag hashtag hashtag

02/06/2024

D-DAY STORY - MARKING YEARS
The D-Day Story features on BBC's Antique Road Show this evening, in a special programme commemorating the 80th Anniversary of D-Day.

28/05/2024

IMCC COMES TO EDINBURGH

Studio MB are proud to sponsor of the International Museum Construction Congress, being held to our home town of Edinburgh this November.

This year's theme is ESG goals & the intersection between Environmental, Social, &/or Governance aspects of Museum Design & Construction. This is something that impacts our work directly so we look forward to sharing, discussing & learning from pioneering museum projects worldwide on this & other subjects, as well as catching up with friends from last year's Oman conference.

You can find out more on the IMCC website.

Call For Edinburgh Session Proposals - Closed Emerging Museum Professional Scholarship Agenda Edinburgh Registration IMCC+ Sponsorship About Planning Committee

21/05/2024

SCOTTISH DESIGN AWARDS FINALIST - NOT ONCE BUT TWICE

We are proud to have not one but two entries shortlisted in this year's Scottish Design Awards Experiential Design Category - Ad Gefrin & The Faith Museum. Best of luck to all nominees & fingers crossed for 27th June when the winners are announced.

The Ad Gefrin Distillery & Visitor Experience located in Wooler, Northumberland is a brand-new whisky distillery, museum & impressive experience of Anglo-Saxon Northumbria.

https://vimeo.com/928022936?share=copy

The Faith Museum, part of the The Auckland Project tells the history of Faith in Britain, from prehistoric evidence of belief to how Faith manifests in modern society. It explores how Faith has shaped lives & communities & how belief has been a driving force throughout the history of Britain. The Museum draws together collections from across the UK including objects found a stone’s throw from the site alongside objects on loan from major institutions including the British Museum & the V&A as well as unique pieces of art. The Museum is housed within the old Scotland Wing of Auckland Palace, including a purpose-built new extension.

https://vimeo.com/928021020/7d8453ca69?share=copy

This is "Ad Gefrin Distillery and Anglo-Saxon Museum" by Studio MB on Vimeo, the home for high quality videos and the people who love them.

23/04/2024

NEXT IN Madrid

Our Founding Partners Craig & Charlie are on their way to Madrid to attend NEXT IN 24, the international conference 'exploring what comes next in museums, architecture, design, technology & sustainability' & to share Studio MB's approach to delivering relevant, innovative & engaging visitor experiences.

If you are attending & would like to say hello to Craig & Charlie get in touch.

A summit to explore what comes next in museums, architecture, design, technology, and sustainability.

17/04/2024

AD GEFRIN REVISITED

Almost one year since it opened its doors to Ad Gefrin Anglo Saxon Museum & whisky distillery has welcomed over 64,000 visitors, almost double expected numbers. The team are so proud to have worked with our client to create this unique visitor experience.

You can find out more about Ad Gefrin via their website https://adgefrin.co.uk/

(photos Fotohaus Ltd & Sally Anne Norman)