Imprisonment at the Tower

Commissioned as the principle designer to reinterpret two of the Tower’s most significant prisoner spaces; the Bloody Tower and Beauchamp Towers, this permanent exhibition project was the first to be fully delivered as part of the Tower Core Story Interpretation Plan and incorporated immersive digital experiences.

For both Towers we designed bespoke oak furniture with integrated Armourcoat® panelling to house graphic interpretation and durable low tech interactives, carrying this aesthetic through each space whilst ensuring minimal structural intervention of the historical architecture. In the Bloody Tower a projection mapped digital experience leads the visitor through the story of Sir Walter Raleigh’s thirteen year incarceration here between 1603 and 1616; his passionate interests in science and poetry, his extraordinary literary pursuits and bouts of ill health.

Externally we have recreated an Elizabethan garden to showcase Raleigh’s botanist narrative, reconnecting the courtyard to the garden that was once located on Tower Green and where Raleigh cultivated exotic herbs and plants collected from the New World, experimenting with the creation of his great medicinal cordial. The garden’s Elizabethan layout is intended to be viewed from above on Raleigh’s Walk when exiting the Tower and includes plants used by Raleigh.

In the Upper Bloody Tower we created a new digital visitor experience showcasing the infamous story of the Two Princes, believed to be murdered by their Uncle Richard III, and who were last seen playing in the garden at the Tower. The narrative unfolds juxtaposing the known facts with a rich visual backdrop to emotionally engage the visitor with the story whilst giving them the freedom to make up their own mind.

Our role Exhibition design / Graphic design / Animation / Illustration / Artwork