PYRAMID POWER

Among the shafts of luxury flats sprouting up along London’s south bank of the Thames, from Battersea to Bermondsey, there is one new tower unlike the others. It is made of brick, not glass, and stands as a squat, truncated pyramid, twisting as it rises. It’s Tate Modern’s Switch House, which opened its doors last month.

This new gallery sees the museum integrate itself with digital technologies, including a new visitor way-finding app, which aims to, “guide visitors on their journey around the museum”. The app also links up with iBeacons scattered around the building, which tell visitors where they are, where they can find particular artworks and help them create personalised, curated journeys through the museum.

“Immersive” explore spaces have also been included, allowing visitors to interact with the art. One space includes motion sensors that react to visitors’ movements to create bespoke content displays, while another recreates famous artists’ studio environments through projections, light and sound.

The result of this new gallery is a powerful addition to the city, an unsettling presence that is at once seductive and forbidding, an appropriately challenging container for the work that lies within, and an inevitable step into the digital world. I suspect it will lead the way for other galleries to do the same.

If you would like us to help you with your next digital project, contact brett.sammels@lawcreative.co.uk.