DHA Designs

John Rylands Next Chapter!

Celebrating 125 years of The University of Manchester Library, the John Rylands Research Institute and Library Next Chapter was a stunning project. Working with talented collaborators Nissen Richards Studio and Donald Insall Associates Architects, DHA re-lit four exhibition spaces and the new entrance, including introducing daylight to the permanent and temporary galleries.

Project designer David Robertson was honoured to light objects including an astonishing 2nd-century fragment of the New Testament, Shakespeare’s First Folio and the Gutenberg Bible. The first temporary exhibition, The Secret Public, shows the history of LGBTQ pop 1955 - 1985. In both spaces, DHA balanced daylight, the stunning decorative lighting, uplighting and case lighting to achieve 50 lux.

The John Rylands Research Institute and Library offers free entry. Plan your visit here: https://www.library.manchester.ac.uk/rylands/visit/plan-your-visit/next-chapter/

Photographer Credit: Gareth Gardner

DHA are excited to announce that David Robertson’s first novel is now available as an audiobook 🎧

Writing under Cameron Grant, Death of a Dame is read by the brilliant Scottish actress Mhairi Morrison and is available on all major audio platforms.

Purchase and download here > https://www.amazon.co.uk/Audible-Death-of-a-Dame/dp/B0F5ZG979W/ref=tmm_aud_swatch_0

Opening tomorrow... The first UK exhibition of Mexico’s much-loved artist, José María Velasco.

Continuing our collaboration with The National Gallery, we’re delighted to have designed the lighting scheme for this new exhibition.

This is the first-ever exhibition dedicated to a historical Latin American artist at the National Gallery and celebrates the 200th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Mexico and the UK. It honours Velasco’s legacy as one of the great 19th-century landscape painters.

The exhibition runs from 29 March – 17 August 2025, so make sure to visit> https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/exhibitions/velasco