Phillip Tefft is the director of Ralph Appelbaum Associates’ London studio, where he has worked on several notable projects such as the UAE Expo in Shanghai with Foster’s and Partners, the reinterpretation of the Crown Jewels at the Tower of London, and The Royal Albert Memorial Museum in Exeter.
He has been with the multidisciplinary firm, which specialises in the planning and design of museums, exhibits, educational environments and visitor attractions, for more than 25 years, and established the London studio in 1998.
Since then, it has completed more than 160 commissions in 18 countries. Recently, it has celebrated the opening of several new projects, including the award-winning Brooklands Museum, the Horniman Museum’s World Gallery in London, and Lavazza’s Museo del Cafe in Torino.
Ralph Appelbaum Associates is working with London’s Imperial War Museum (IWM) on the design of its new Second World War Galleries. The two new galleries, which have been five years in the making, opened to the public in 2021. RAA designed and developed the Second World War Galleries in parallel with IWM’s new Holocaust Galleries, to make sure that the connection between the events of the Holocaust and the wider course of the War is made clear.
Speaking about the project, Tefft says:
“RAA has been honoured to work with Imperial War Museums on such a significant project and we are thrilled to see the Second World War Galleries open after over 5 years of dedicated work from our design team.
“RAA’s and IWM’s shared vision for the Galleries is to help people, as global citizens, make sense of today by having a deeper understanding of the connections between past conflict and the contemporary world. This is about exploring the way war has shaped the local and the global; about appreciating diverse views; and about challenging audiences to become ready to engage in difficult decisions for themselves, their communities and their world.”