The mobile museum, a joint initiative of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and arts access charity Art Explora, will take three national collections a year on tour as part of an initiative to make arts available to everyone.

Ab Rogers Design won an international competition to design the facility, selected from a shortlist comprising 6a architects, Sam Jacob Studio and Map Project Office.

Practice founder and director Rogers said: ‘It is not every day you get the opportunity to design a mobile museum.

‘We wanted to capture the feeling of the circus arriving in town, creating an explosive burst of energy and anticipation that contains and nurtures extraordinary, curated collections.’

He added: ‘More mobile, more vibrant and more alive than any other museum, it’s a project that’s very close to my heart.’

From 2027, Art Explora will tour the new mobile museum with three 12-week exhibitions a year.

Items from the Government Art Collection, a national collection of historic, modern and contemporary British art, will be displayed in the dedicated vehicle once a year.

Other national and regional partners include Tate, the National Portrait Gallery, Leeds Art Gallery, Birmingham Museums Trust and National Museums Liverpool.

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has funded the project with £800,000, matching the contribution of Art Explora, to build the mobile museum vehicle and pay for its tours.

Art Explora has operated a fleet of similar museums in France for 15 years.

One of the French vehicles is being used for a pilot in the South West and North West this summer, featuring pieces from the Government Art Collection which reflect the sea’s influence on people, places and communities. It began in Plymouth this week (15 June).

Culture secretary Lisa Nandy said she was determined art should not be for the few but for everyone.

She said: ‘By taking the collection directly into communities – to parks, schools, libraries and public squares – we’re breaking down the barriers that have kept people from experiencing the art that belongs to everyone.’

Ab Rogers Design is a multidisciplinary design and architecture studio, founded in 2004.

Ab Rogers, son of Richard, was formerly a cabinet-maker and sailor as well as head of the interior design programme at the Royal College of Art from 2012-2015.

 Mobile Museum Design Competition

Jury Chair: Jemima Montagu (Director, Art Explora UK)

Jury members:

  • Asif Khan (architect)
  • Frédéric Jousset (founder, Art Explora)
  • Ingrid Brochard (founder, MuMo)
  • Helen Legg (director, Tate Liverpool)
  • Tim Marlow (director, London Design Museum)
  • Ben Evans (director, London Design Festival)
  • Sally Bacon (consultant — arts and learning)
  • Eliza Gluckman (director, Government Art Collection)

Shortlisted teams:

  • Ab Rogers Design (winner)
  • 6a architects
  • Sam Jacob Studio
  • Map Project Office, connected to Barber Osgerby