London. This is what V&A East Storehouse and V&A East Museum will look like

External-render-view-V&A-East-Museum-c-O-Donnel-Tuomey-2

Victoria & Albert Museum is expanding. 150 years after its foundation, the museum – one of the most important in the world dedicated to applied arts – is building two new satellite venues in London’s Stratford Park area. Currently under construction at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Stratford, the V&A East Storehouse will open to the public in 2024, while the V&A East Museum, on the Stratford Waterfront, is scheduled to open in 2025.

cover: External render view of the new W&A East Museum at Stratford Waterfront, designed by O’Donnell + Tuomey (c) O’Donnell + Tuomey, 2018

V&A East Storehouse
Designed by the New York-based architecture firm Diller Scofidio + Renfro, with the support of the London-based firm Austin-Smith:Lord, V&A East Storehouse is a 16.000-square meter/172,200-square foot building conceived to house and preserve more than 250.000 objects, 350.000 books, and 1000 archives. The Storehouse will invite visitors to explore the V&A’s fine art and applied art collections.
Blurring the boundaries between public and private space, the V&A East Storehouse will combine research facilities and reading rooms with galleries, performance spaces, and creative studios within one experiential warehouse building.
The Storehouse will aim to show the public why objects are collected, and how they are cared for, stored, and displayed, revealing the latest research. New flexible forms of exhibiting objects and co-production projects will also be tested to highlight different narratives and perspectives.
The V&A collection will be interspersed with large architectural fragments and interior arrangements previously too demanding to be permanently exhibited. Among these, the furniture of Edgar J. Kaufmann’s studio was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in the 1930s.
V&A East Storehouse will offer an in-depth view of the work of artists and designers through exhibitions ranging from ceramics to fashion, from fine arts to graphics up to modern and contemporary design.

Internal render views of the W&A East Storehouse, designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro. (c) Diller Scofidio + Renfro.

Frank Lloyd Wright, Edgar J. Kaufmann’s office, (c) ARS, NY and DACS, London 2018.
To be displayed at W&A East Storehouse.

V&A East Museum
Designed by the Dublin-based architecture firm O’Donnell + Tuomey, the V&A East Museum is a 7,000-square meter / 75,300-square foot five-story building. Inspired by the shape of an evening dress designed by Cristóbal Balenciaga in 1954, and by the Japanese concept of ‘Ma’ or “the space between”, the new V&A East museum will offer spaces for meetings, exhibitions, festivals, immersive art installations, and night events.
The main exhibition hall will present thematic shows celebrating contemporary global artists and designers. Two collection galleries will explore global making and creativity with new acquisitions, commissions, and live activations presented alongside collection displays.
O’Donnell + Tuomey have further refined their museum concept by creating a ‘ribbon of design’
which wraps around the V&A East Museum’s interior. This will be filled with collection objects and commissions, extending the gallery experience into the circulation spaces as visitors ascend the building.
The museum’s exterior will be a three-dimensional folded composition rendered in pre-cast concrete. Sustainability has been key to the design and construction of the V&A East Museum, which will meet BREEAM Excellent standard on completion, with features including photovoltaic panels and planting on the roof and terraces to encourage biodiversity.