The Great Court at the British Museum

From initial sketches to final project, this book documents the "reinvention" of the British Museum's Great Court. One of the world's greatest institutions of learning and art, the British Museum sees nearly six million visitors annually. Yet until Norman Foster's remarkable transformation of its courtyard, the enormous rambling structure was like a city without a park. Numerous photographs reveal the court from a variety of perspectives and show the cutting-edge technology of the spectacular glazed canopy that shelters what is now the largest covered public space in Europe. Involving the magnificent restoration of the Reading Room, the creation of new galleries for African art and a range of educational resources, the Great Court project was a herald of the British Museum's wider transformation. The project and this book illuminate Foster + Partners' holistic and ingenious approach to contemporary design.