The refurbishment of the Warburg Institute has now entered the third and final phase of construction. This phase will see the opening up of the Ground and Lower Ground Floors, to accommodate a new entrance foyer and open plan exhibition space, sitting adjacent to a new 140 seat lecture theatre, housed in a new build extension within the rear courtyard.
The new lecture theatre will feature an elliptical ceiling beam, cast in situ with the exposed concrete frame. The elliptical shape, which had great meaning for Aby Warburg, references the elliptical roof lights in the reading room of the Kulturwissenschaftliche Bibliothek Warburg (KBW) in Hamburg. The complex formwork has been machine-fabricated off-site and will be positioned and reinforced by the on-site team prior to casting with self-compacting concrete.
Elsewhere on the Ground Floor, the Institute’s frieze of the nine muses has now been taken offsite for specialist restoration by Taylor Pearce Ltd. The frieze was originally located on the façade of a row of Georgian townhouses that previously occupied the site but was preserved when the Institute was built and mounted into the wall in the lobby area. The frieze is made from a material called Coade stone and is said to be a copy of a Greek Roman sarcophagus decoration that is now part of the Louvre’s collection. Once restored, the frieze will be resurrected within the new entrance foyer, for the enjoyment of future generations.
Five Haworth Tompkins projects have secured six shortlist places across the 2026 AJ Architecture Awards and NLA Awards. The recognition reflects the breadth of our expertise across culture, housing, regeneration and masterplanning - from the sensitive transformation of listed cultural buildings to major residential developments and urban masterplans.
Planning permission has been secured for the first phase of the transformation of St Botolph's Quarter in central Colchester, marking an important milestone in the city's long-term regeneration.
Pembroke Mill Lane for Pembroke College, Cambridge, has been shortlisted for the 2026 RIBA Stirling Prize, the UK's most prestigious award for architecture.
Wonderful to see the new performance spaces at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA) alive with performance, rehearsal and teaching.
Pembroke Mill Lane, Cambridge has received a RIBA National Award.
Haworth Tompkins has been shortlisted in two categories at this year's Building Design Architect of the Year Awards.
We are so pleased to see The Court Theatre continue to receive industry recognition, with multiple honours at Friday night's Property Council New Zealand Industry Awards, including the Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei Judges' Choice Award.
In the second of three NLA articles, Tom Gibson, Associate Director at Haworth Tompkins, reflects on the practice’s international mass timber projects and the lessons they offer for timber construction in the UK.
| 25.03.26 | Mass Timber Design Innovations: from fire strategy to carbon reduction, the challenges and opportunities of designing with timber. → |
| 30.10.25 | Construction Reaches Topping Off Milestone for the New Home of the American Repertory Theater at Harvard University → |
| 28.07.25 | Haworth Tompkins reveals plans for the redevelopment of Grade I listed De La Warr Pavilion → |
| 13.05.25 | Haworth Tompkins to lead design of affordable housing in £2.5 Billion York Central Regeneration → |