Galleries within the south quadrant, the oldest parts of the building, were repaired and restored, and new sustainable environmental control systems were integrated into listed fabric. Circulation spaces around the Rotunda – at all three public levels – have been opened up, with new stairs and lifts now connecting all floors. New members' facilities at the upper level offer views of the River Thames and the city beyond, while a new café at the lower level is connected to a new terrace and lawn.

The new spiral stairs in the centre of the Rotunda allow the public atmosphere of the ground floor to extend down to the lower floor – an area of the building that was previously of secondary importance. At the lower level, the stair stands in the middle of the Crossing – a wide arched hall – with the new café, education spaces, and the Whistler Restaurant positioned around it. At the upper level, the new member’s area is arranged around the gallery overlooking the Rotunda. Adjacent to the member’s gallery is the River Room, which overlooks the Thames, and which involved the refurbishment of spaces that had once been galleries. The furniture for the members’ area and River Room was designed by Caruso St John.

The spirit of the changes is complex and multivalent. It engages the existing architecture – from Edwardian Baroque, through stripped 1930s Neo-Classicism, to dry 1970s functionalism – on its own terms. New interventions are not strongly differentiated from their context, nor embarrassed by the pomposity, jingoism or aridity of the existing architecture. The project seeks to heal the damage done to the building over generations, to blur the abrupt edits between work from different periods and, ultimately, to make a new and richer whole.

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