Milestones Living History Museum, Basingstoke
This major new museum project was supported by the Heritage Lottery fund and was a joint venture between Hampshire County Council and Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council.
Against a backdrop of mature trees, a curved silver roof rises directly from earth abutments in a gently sloping parkland, arching over a large internal sunken arena.
Inside, the Museum’s collection is displayed within a series of 19th and 20th Century buildings and street scenes. From steam engines to bicycles, gramophones to clothing, Hampshire’s social and transport history will be brought to life amongst cobbled streets and brightly painted shop fronts.
Inspired by the simple honesty of construction of early engines, the new
building similarly seeks to express the modern materials and engineering
principles from which it is built. Through this clear contrast of old and
new, the museum marked the turn of the millennium with a building that brings
Hampshire’s past into the present and looks to the future.
