Attempts by Hopkins and Colin St John Wilson to unify the Royal Academy campus failed because they were either over-inflated or under-ambitious, David Chipperfield has said.

The architect was speaking at a press preview of his successful attempt to do what defeated his predecessors.

His £50m scheme opens to the public on May 19, linking for the first time the existing Royal Academy with Burlington Gardens, the former Museum of Mankind building directly behind it, using a bridge over the area occupied by the RA Schools. A new auditorium and galleries for architecture and the permanent collection are also part of the project.