A place-making anchor for UK Parliament

To mark the much-anticipated re-opening of the iconic tower, this new experience was designed to open London's famous 'Big Ben' to a wider public than ever before, with the project aiming to double visitor capacity to allow for 25,000  visitors a year. While an iconic piece of London's skyline, it needed to transform its visitor experience by meeting tourists' expectations, attracting Londoners and enriching understanding of its important stories.

We worked with the UK Parliament to transform the visitor  experience of the tower by connecting audiences to the  story of its history and the wider Parliament. It represents  an aspiration to interest more people in the UK’s democratic  history and future, whilst ensuring this guided tour was  state-of-the-art, on a par with similarly distinguished London attractions.
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Illuminated through storytelling

Our interpretation and design was developed in  response to the ambitious reach of this project. It needed to resonate with people from all over the world. By listening to the stories and experiences of the volunteer tour guides, we identified the themes that resonated most strongly with visitors, building upon this with enriching new narratives. Working with archivists, we broadened its historical narrative and identified rarely shared collections for display. We also advised on the tour script to highlight these fascinating insights into history. We brought the narrative to life through commissioned sample masonry and models of the building, supported by image-led storytelling, tactile props and audio soundscapes to ensure that there is something for everyone, whilst offering a wholly new experience

The visitor experience builds anticipation through rich storytelling as visitors ascend the tower, culminating in a series of experiences where the clock and bells take centre stage. Three storytelling spaces illuminate different aspects of the tower’s history with varied interpretation techniques, including sound, media and graphics. This situates Elizabeth Tower in its wider context as a piece of historical architecture, an iconic clock-tower and a symbol of London and the UK, recurrent in popular culture.

The graphic and signage approach for the tower experience is focused on supporting storytelling and guiding visitors through the space. Static images printed directly onto media provide visual references that align with the tower’s history, complementing the narrative delivered by human guides.