Overview
Open Book Café & Bookshop Redesign
The Tank Museum, Bovington
Client: The Tank Museum
Project Type: Café Retheme, Bookshop Integration, Custom Retail Systems
Services: Creative Direction, 3D Visualisation, Detailed Design, Manufacture Liaison
Status: Delivered
The Tank Museum required a sensitive yet confident redesign of its café and bookshop area, located within Tamiya Hall.
Previously themed as a modern Afghan NAAFI canteen, the space had been closely aligned with the Afghanistan exhibition. With the introduction of a new Ukraine exhibition, the café and retail environment needed to evolve and move away from a location-specific narrative towards a flexible, future-proof identity that could sit comfortably alongside changing exhibitions and public events.
Our response was the creation of the Open Book Café:
a shared social, retail, and interpretive space that blends café culture with storytelling, learning, and museum retail best practices.
3D Render Concept – Open Book cafe
Our Approach: Collaboration First
Every project we deliver begins with listening.
Before any design work started, we held detailed workshops with the museum team to understand:
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How the space was currently used day-to-day
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How café, bookshop, exhibition entrance, and events overlap
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What worked well, and what no longer did
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How the museum wanted visitors to feel in the space
This collaborative process ensures that the final design is not imposed, but co-authored.
The museum’s ideas, operational knowledge, and ambitions are central to the outcome.
Retheming the Café: The Open Book Café
The café was reimagined with a new identity that:
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Feels calm, contemporary, and welcoming
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Integrates visually with the bookshop
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References the museum’s collections without competing with them
Oversized book forms were introduced as architectural features, graphic storytelling devices, and visual anchors. These elements allow exhibition-linked graphics to be updated over time, ensuring longevity and adaptability.
The result is a café that feels embedded within the museum narrative, rather than separate from it.
Open Book Cafe & Ukraine Entrance Concept
Design Development Through Visualisation
Once the brief was defined, we moved into full-environment 3D design and visualisation.
Rather than designing individual elements in isolation, we modelled the entire café and bookshop environment, allowing every aspect to be explored before manufacture:
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Sightlines to the Ukraine exhibition
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Visual transitions between café, retail, and hall
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Scale and proportion of oversized book elements
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Visitor flow, dwell zones, and pinch points
This approach allows informed decision-making early in the process, reducing risk and ensuring confidence across all stakeholders.
Animated walkthroughs and rendered visuals gave the museum team the ability to “walk the space” long before it existed, enabling refinement, discussion, and approval at every stage.
Flexible Layout Design Options
1m x 1m POS Unit
(Lower-Door Storage)
2m x 1m POS Unit
(Lower-Door Storage)
2m x 1m POS Unit
(Open Storage)
Interchangeable Signage Options
Each unit features an integrated interchangeable signage system designed to maximise impact and drive sales. Discreet signage slots are built into the top of the square units, allowing graphics to be inserted quickly and changed as required. Signs are held securely in place using concealed magnetic fixings, enabling fast updates without tools, disruption, or specialist support.
The taller book units incorporate a dedicated slotted signage structure, allowing pre-printed graphics to be swapped easily throughout the year. This makes it simple to introduce seasonal messaging, exhibition-linked promotions, or time-limited offers, helping venues respond quickly to changing campaigns and increase retail visibility. Together, these signage options ensure the system remains flexible, eye-catching, and commercially effective.
Vertical Book Display Units
Flexible Low-Level Book Retail Units
To support both retail performance and operational flexibility, we designed a family of custom low-level book units.
Key features include:
- Integrated storage beneath display surfaces
- Modular sizes (1m x 1m and 2m x 1m)
- Units on concealed castors for easy reconfiguration
- Child-friendly browsing heights
Robust finishes suited to high-traffic museum use
These units can be rearranged to:
- Maximise retail visibility during peak periods
- Open up floor space for evening events and functions
- Adapt to changing stock and exhibition themes
Vertical Book Units: Retail Best Practices Applied
Research into book retail consistently shows that:
- Front-facing books outperform spine-only displays
- Vertical displays improve visibility across larger spaces
- Strong visual landmarks increase engagement and impulse purchase
In response, we designed tall custom book units that:
- Draw the eye across the hall
- Highlight key titles and exhibition-linked books
- Frame entrances and circulation routes
These units balance strong visual impact with practical storage and accessibility, supporting both commercial performance and visitor experience.
From Design to Manufacture
The custom book retail units developed for this project are now available as a flexible and scalable product range for cultural and visitor-facing venues.
Designed to maximise visibility, adaptability, and long-term value, the system is suitable for museums, galleries, visitor attractions, cultural venues, and temporary or touring exhibitions.
Each unit can be specified to suit individual operational needs, with configurable options for size, colour, finish, branding, and signage. This enables venues to develop a retail solution that balances strong commercial performance with evolving spatial requirements, while benefiting from a robust, professionally manufactured system.
Product Highlights
Flexible by Design
Commercially Proven.
Built to Last
Retail Features
Designed for Flexibility
A modular retail system that can be easily reconfigured to suit changing layouts, events, and visitor flows. Units are designed to move, adapt, and scale, allowing venues to respond quickly to operational needs without compromising visual quality or performance.
Built for Commercial Performance
Developed using proven retail best practice, the system prioritises visibility, accessibility, and engagement. Front-facing displays, clear sightlines, and strong visual presence help maximise browsing time, improve product discovery, and support increased retail sales.
Engineered for Long-Term Value
Professionally designed and manufactured for high-traffic cultural environments, the units offer durability, ease of maintenance, and efficient production. Configurable sizes, finishes, and branding options ensure the system delivers long-term return on investment and can be reused across multiple projects or venues.