Scena engineered a freestanding counterweighted stud wall for The Queen's House at Royal Museums Greenwich, providing hanging space for J.M.W. Turner's Battle of Trafalgar without any fixings to the Grade I listed building.
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The Queen's House, a Grade I listed masterpiece of classical architecture constructed between 1616 and 1635, required a gallery reconfiguration within the Headmasters' Drawing Room to display Turner's prestigious Battle of Trafalgar painting. Due to strict conservation constraints, no fixings were permitted into the historic ceilings, walls, or timber floors, and all interventions had to be fully reversible with no lasting impact on the listed structure.
Scena developed a freestanding counterweighted stud wall solution with an internal steel framework and integrated base counterweights, designed in collaboration with consulting structural engineers to ensure compliance with historic floor load capacities. The wall was prefabricated off-site in modular sections and installed using laser alignment tools, with the outer finish matched precisely to existing gallery finishes. Subtle shadow gaps preserved the room's classical lines while maintaining complete structural independence.
The project included two bespoke kiosk tables positioned in front of the painting, one providing an audio-visual experience and the other presenting interpretive graphics, connected by a low-level barrier constructed from powder-coated mild steel and brass. The completed installation successfully balanced modern gallery functionality with heritage protection, providing a stable, reversible, and visually harmonious solution that preserved the integrity of the Grade I listed interior.
Produced for National Maritime Museum / Royal Museums Greenwich.
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