Ocean Court is the central area of the National Maritime Museum, and home to some of the largest objects in the collection. The new ‘Ocean Court’ that opened in summer 2025 is surrounded by displays and interpretation that brings an enhanced offering that help visitors to better understand the significance of the world’s oceans and our relationship with them.  

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From a lighthouse light powerful enough to be seen from 17 miles away to the stern of a ship that fought at the Battle of Trafalgar these objects were reinterpreted to provide an engaging and playful understanding of their importance, highlighting people stories that better link them to the Museum’s other galleries and the main principles of ocean literacy.  

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Su Koh designed the display beautifully for the a buckled piece from the hull of the Sea Empress oil tanker that ran aground at Milford Haven on the south-west coast of Wales on 15 February 1996. ​studio HB ​redesigned the object interpretation labels located around the podium to bring the overall visual identity in line with the new tonal and interpretation approach that we had developed for the ocean map and mural.

We re-used all the existing panels-cleaning, respraying and digitally printing them so there was no waste. We introduced an additional material from Smile Plastic for our titles, aptly named OCEAN, made from plastic packaging-it kept the plastic in our economic system and not disposed of in the ocean. 

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