On the approach to its 250th anniversary, the British Museum has undertaken a huge redevelopment programme, largely facilitated by the removal of the British Library from its midst. Lord Foster's Great Court is at the centre of plans to position the Museum for the new millenium, creating at the same time a great new civic space. A vast glass canopy curves gracefully over a newly created piazza, with the dome of the famous round Reading Room at its centre. Lying at the heart of the Museum, the Great Court forges a link between the Museum's important architectural history and a twenty-first century concept of building design on the grand scale. The Great Court explores the creation of this unique 'urban room', the impetus and background to the project, the architectural competition, the complex design and construction processes, and the very role of the Museum itself. Read Less