Studio Eger were commissioned to design a temporary exhibition on the life of Robert Adam, who remodelled Osterley House between 1761 and 1765. We developed a set of themes: Adam’s Life; The Grand Tour; Crafts and craftsmen; and responded to the colour palettes and glorious patterns found throughout the House interiors. A drawing desk was set up with paint swatches, and scale models, and we approached modern day architects to provide quotes on how their own design careers had been influenced by Robert Adams, to help give the exhibition a modern-day relevance.

Interactives included “flat pack” versions of Adam’s most famous designs, that visitors could build into models, colour swatches of his paint palettes, a tactile replica of cornicing, and areas to draw. A feedback section invited visitors to reveal comment on how much they had learnt about Adam during their visit. The exhibition returned for a second season due to popular demand.