UK's Royal Academy of Arts unveils new plan for 250th aniversary

London May 11 (People's Daily Online)—— UK’s artist-led institution Royal Academy of Arts today unveiled designs for a transformative redevelopment which will be completed in time for its 250th anniversary in 2018.

The designs, by internationally acclaimed architect Sir David Chipperfield CBE RA, will link Burlington House and Burlington Gardens for the first time, uniting and revitalising the two-acre site. The redevelopment will open up the essential elements that make the Royal Academy unique worldwide, sharing with the public its historic treasures, the work of its Academicians, and the RA Schools, alongside its world-class exhibitions programme.

The redevelopment will provide significant improvements to visitors’ facilities across the site and will conserve the façade of Burlington Gardens, one of the grandest unrestored buildings in central London.

Christopher Le Brun, President, Royal Academy of Arts, said: “British visual art has achieved outstanding international success in recent decades and the proof of the Academy’s resurgence in the twenty-first century is that among our Academician painters, sculptors and printmakers we have such world-class architects as Sir David Chipperfield RA.”

Tim Marlow, Director of Artistic Programmes, said: “This is an unprecedented opportunity to create the most animated cultural campus in central London that runs all the way from Piccadilly to Mayfair.”

The Lord Davies of Abersoch CBE, Chairman of the Royal Academy Trust, said: “2018 will be a landmark in our history and I am extremely grateful to all those who have supported our ambitious plans to transform our site.”