Metaphor completed a Strategic Masterplanning Study for the Imperial War Museum following their possible acquisition of a substantial collection of Victoria Cross and George Cross medals. This potential acquisition provided an opportunity to review the Lambeth estate and to respond to changing needs and objectives.

The Study builds on both the firm foundations of the existing Arup Masterplan completed in 2000 and also on the existing logical organisation of the displays. The recommendations are divided into four distinct package of projects each centred around a set of development opportunities on the main Lambeth site. 

One of the key interventions proposed was to improve the wayfinding of the museum to improve the visitor experience. This is achieved in the masterplan by simple colocation of functions, improved access routes, transforming the atrium into a “contents page”, painting the rear brick façade of the atrium white and enlarging the openings.

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The Independent on Sunday reviewed '...exhibition seems too tame a word for this powerful museum environment which draws the viewer into its facts, through a fusion of image, design and text. We enter a space that is architecturally and conceptually different from the rest of the bustling museum, and move from light into darkness and out again.'