If you’d made it to your 250th birthday, you’d probably be thinking about slowing down a bit.
The iconic Royal Academy, however, has other ideas.
This year the arts institution celebrated being around for two-and-a-half centuries with the completion of a landmark extension project, which aims to turn the organisation into a “living academy”.
The new building, designed by architect David Chipperfield RA, features a new lecture theatre, 380 square metres of gallery space and a new architecture studio, all of which will help emphasise the institution's unique connection to the production of art as well as the display of it. In total, the project has taken 17 years to complete.
“It’s a way of showing that we’re as much about contemporary art as we are about the history of art. It’ll be a kind of living academy, rather than just an exhibition space,” said the Royal Academy's Chief Executive Sir Charles Saumarez Smith, who last week announced he would be stepping down from the post at the end of the year after overseeing the expansion.
Watch the video above for a tour of the new building and discover how it's breathing new life into one of London’s oldest arts organisations.
