Austin-Smith:Lord Sponsors Chinese New Year at Bristol Museum & Art Gallery

Austin-Smith:Lord Sponsors Chinese New Year at Bristol Museum & Art Gallery

Austin-Smith:Lord is excited to announce that it is sponsoring a vibrant and exciting programme of activity marking the Chinese New Year, which is being held at the Bristol Museum & Art Gallery.

The celebrations, also sponsored by the University of Bristol, will take place on the weekend of the 4th and 5th of February and will mark the start of the Year of the Rooster. As well as being a hub of cultural activity for the weekend, the event is also pertinent as it provides a phenomenal opportunity for cultural exchange with the Chinese community, which will in turn help develop links with China and inward investment into the city.

The partnership expresses Austin-Smith:Lord’s deeply inherent kinship with the Arts and Culture sector, in fact conservation architects are currently working on one of the most exciting and important conservation projects within the UK, if not Europe – the restoration of The Great Pagoda at Kew Gardens, in London. Working closely with Historic Royal Palaces (HRP) Austin-Smith:Lord is providing the technical conservation expertise to restore The Great Pagoda to present the 150 feet tall nine story building as it looked at the time of construction in 1761.

Austin-Smith:Lord will showcase a video sharing more about the exciting Pagoda project in the rear hall for visitors to enjoy and, on a separate date, host a private curator-led tour of Bristol Museum’s world class Eastern Art collection.

Commenting on the sponsorship, Martin Roe, Partner at Austin-Smith:Lord said: “As a practice with a long standing history of designing for Arts and Culture, we are really proud to be supporting this event which celebrates a spectacular culture and, as a Bristol based practice, promotes the excellent work of Bristol Museum & Art Gallery.

It is also particularly relevant that we are currently working on the exciting restoration of the Great Pagoda at Kew Gardens. The use of 3D print to restore eighty dragons onto the building brings cutting-edge modern technology into play on restoration of a period structure and illustrates how heritage work can advance technological understanding suitable for a whole host of architectural design and construction projects, including new build. Coupled with the investigative ‘detective’ work used to determine the exact chronology of the structure through the science of paint analysis, visitors to the museum will gain a unique insight into the project. We hope that our clients and associates can make it along to enjoy the fun.”

For those who would like to enjoy a day out with the family, the weekend will feature lion dancing performances, martial arts demonstrations, Chinese dancing, live music and much more. A variety of arts and crafts activities including mask-making, paper folding and storytelling will be on offer and visitors can also try their hand at calligraphy and take part in interactive dance classes. There will also be a delicious Chinese inspired menu in the café and Chinese goods for sale in the shop.

The Year of the Rooster starts on 28th January 2017 and continues until 16th February 2018. According to the Chinese Zodiac people born in a year of the Rooster are observant, hardworking, resourceful, courageous and talented.