Marcon and Ralph Appelbaum Associates have been appointed by Bletchley Park Trust to deliver the design and build contract within the Grade 2 Block A building to create Bletchley Park’s largest ever exhibition – The Intelligence Factory.
Bletchley Park is an internationally renowned heritage attraction, visited by 300,000 people a year from around the world.
The new permanent exhibition will outline the significance of Bletchley Park and will bring to life story of the location as an intelligence organisation during the second half of World War Two.
Throughout the War, the people that worked at Bletchley Park had to convert a mountain of intercepted enemy communications into actionable intelligence. They systematically broke Germany’s communications cipher systems and developed the world’s first computer to provide the Allies with vital intelligence, changing the course of WWII.
The exhibition will be split into zones, taking visitors on a journey, and allowing them to see what life was like there at the height of the conflict.
The new visitor experience will incorporate, a mixture of interpretive and immersive features, including, graphics, objects, archival material, interactive exhibits, digital assets, and other techniques within the war time building to acknowledge and celebrate the successes from the War and the people responsible for them.
Mark O’Connor, Director at Marcon, commented; “We are delighted to be working with RAA again and involved in such a well-known scheme. The impacts of the pandemic have caused delays to the opening of this iconic building, but now with all designs finalised we are delighted to be getting onto site. It will be fantastic to see this exhibition in use by the local community and visitors from around the globe.”
The new exhibition will be opening to the public in April 2022.
All images courtesy of Ralph Appelbaum Associates.