V&A East Storehouse building design, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park collection, Stratford museum installations
V&A East Storehouse Building in Stratford
31 May 2023
e-architect reveal a new flythrough video showing what awaits inside V&A East Storehouse, as well as new renders + new details on V&A East Storehouse displays:
Collection move to begin at V&A East Storehouse
Location: Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, Stratford, Borough of Newham, East London, England, UK
Examples of ‘Hacked End’ displays at V&A East Storehouse:
image © Diller Scofidio + Renfro. Image courtesy of Victoria and Albert Museum, Londonn
V&A East Storehouse, Stratford Building News
• ‘The UK’s biggest house move’ kicks-off next month as the build reaches practical completion and object installation begins at V&A East Storehouse
• Works by Canova, Paolozzi and 19th and 20th century shadow puppets amongst first objects to be installed, with Robin Hood Gardens installed during construction
• New architectural renders and flythrough video reveal new details of the experience awaiting V&A East Storehouse visitors from spring 2025
• V&A East Storehouse to feature 100+ changing displays, spotlighting previously marginalised stories and voices, and surfacing new research
• Newly announced displays include a celebration of the V&A’s globally recognised fashion collections, and an exploration of east London local history
• Part of East Bank, the Mayor of London’s new cultural quarter in Stratford’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park
View of the Collections Hall at V&A East Storehouse:
image © Diller Scofidio + Renfro. Image courtesy of Victoria and Albert Museum, Londonn
Wednesday 31 May 2023 – Today, the V&A releases new details of the unique experience awaiting visitors at the V&A East Storehouse, as it completes construction and prepares to embark on the largest collection move in its 170-year history.
Part of East Bank, the Mayor of London’s new cultural quarter in Stratford’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, and the capital’s biggest single investment in culture and education for over a century, V&A East Storehouse is one of two new V&A East sites opening together in spring 2025.
View of Large Rolled Objects Gallery at V&A East Storehouse:
image © Diller Scofidio + Renfro. Image courtesy of Victoria and Albert Museum, Londonn
V&A East Storehouse will be a unique new cultural experience, designed by architects Diller Scofidio + Renfro, providing unprecedented and dramatic access to the V&A’s collections. A working collection store open to the public 363 days of the year, it will take visitors behind the scenes to engage with their national collections at a scale and in a form never possible before – for free, and on a self-guided basis. V&A East Storehouse brings together conservation labs, working stores, research and reading rooms with galleries, display and performance spaces and creative studios, inviting visitors to wander from the Collections Hall – a dramatic and theatrical public space at the centre of the Storehouse – along an extensive self-guided public network through the collections, revealing life behind the scenes at the V&A.
View of The Clothworkers’ Centre for the Study and Conservation of Textiles and Fashion at V&A East Storehouse:
image © Diller Scofidio + Renfro. Image courtesy of Victoria and Albert Museum, Londonn
Objects moving into V&A East Storehouse range from ancient Egyptian shoes to Naomi Campbell’s iconic 1990s Vivienne Westwood platforms, early 20th century West African robes to costumes worn by Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes, Charlie Chaplin and Sir Elton John. These, alongside decorative interior pieces by artists Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant, a drum kit played by The Who’s Keith Moon, 19th century Nepalese poison arrows, Japanese lacquer and swords, and the archives of creative luminaries from PJ Harvey to the Talawa Theatre Company, Biba and Glastonbury Festival, are just a handful of the 250,000-plus objects, 1,000 archives and 350,000 books from the V&A’s collections.
View of collection stores at V&A East Storehouse:
image © Diller Scofidio + Renfro. Image courtesy of Victoria and Albert Museum, Londonn
V&A East Storehouse will also house the David Bowie Centre for the Study of Performing Arts, where fans, scholars and artists will be able to gain new insights into David Bowie’s creative process. The V&A’s acquisition of the David Bowie Archive and creation of the Centre has been made possible thanks to the David Bowie Estate and a generous donation of £10m from the Blavatnik Family Foundation and Warner Music Group.
Five years in the making, the collection move will take over 12 months to complete. Some of the first collections to arrive at V&A East Storehouse include:
• Pop Art pioneer Eduardo Paolozzi’s (1924 – 2005) Krazy Kat Arkive of Twentieth Century Popular Culture, a selection of several thousand items collected by the artist from 1930. Ranging from comics to music and science fiction tear sheets, collages, prints, and sketches, and 3D model kits and toys, including robots, aircraft, guns, monsters, and spaceships, together they represent Paolozzi’s interest in 20th century popular culture and his exploration of the ‘man in the machine’ age.
• One of Antonio Canova’s (1757 – 1822) last sculptures, Sleeping Nymph, ca. 1821-24. Weighing-in at almost a tonne, the sculpture was left incomplete at Canova’s death and finished by his assistants.
• A series of puppets from the V&A’s Theatre and Performance global collections, including 19th and 20th century shadow puppets from India and Indonesia.
View into the working collection stores at V&A East Storehouse:
image © Diller Scofidio + Renfro. Image courtesy of Victoria and Albert Museum, Londonn
New CGI renders and a ‘flythrough’ film revealed today illustrate architects Diller Scofidio + Renfro’s imaginative design concept that brings visitors into the heart of the V&A’s collections. A dramatic four-storey Collections Hall – a new public space for London – brings an unrivalled transparency to the V&A’s work, breaking down the physical and virtual barriers to access to the rich potential of its collections. Here, visitors are surrounded by thousands of objects, before having the chance to explore hundreds of curated rotating displays literally ‘hacked’ into the stores.
Throughout, the experience reflects V&A East’s curatorial approach, offering a contemporary lens on the V&A’s collections, spotlighting people alongside individual objects, and previously hidden global stories and voices.
Highlight displays announced today include:
‘East London Connections’, which brings together a range of objects exploring the cultural history of east London, from a Saxophone played by the band Madness at the London 2012 Games closing ceremony, to Sibling’s tracksuit with blue toile de Jouy-style print showing scenes from the 2011 London riots and a variety of east London ceramics made over the last 400 years in Bow, Limehouse, West Ham, Millwall and beyond.
A display curated in association with the V&A’s Clothworkers’ Centre for the Study and Conservation of Textiles and Fashion, home to one of the most important collections of fashion and textiles in the world. From spinning wheels to boxed accessories, and the range of different mannequins used to display fashion, it reveals the inner workings of the Centre, and presents a range of ensembles by designers including Issey Miyake, Phoebe English, Rahemur Rahman, Lagos-based menswear label, Orange Culture and many more.
With specially designed spaces for conservation and research, V&A East Storehouse will also offer visitors insights into the day-to-day workings of the V&A, with live conservation, updates on ground-breaking scientific analysis and the latest curatorial research. As part of V&A East’s education and careers programmes, visitors will also be able to gain practical experience and support for their creative practice, through workshops and events hosted in studios and maker spaces, and hands on access to the collections.
View of working collection stores and ‘as stored’ displays at V&A East Storehouse:
image © Diller Scofidio + Renfro. Image courtesy of Victoria and Albert Museum, Londonn
Tim Reeve, Deputy Director and COO of the V&A, said: “The end of construction and start of the collection move is a thrilling moment in the creation of a unique new cultural experience for the British public and the museums’ world. V&A East Storehouse will house the majority of the V&A’s collections, with a dramatic, self-guided visitor experience running throughout, which transforms access, maximises transparency, and removes barriers to the creative riches within the world’s leading collection of art, design and performance. Developing a new paradigm for public collections and civic spaces, V&A East Storehouse will present work by artists, designers, and performers in new ways and in new contexts. V&A East Storehouse offers incomparable opportunities for the public to enjoy, learn from and discover the 5000-years of creativity housed within the V&A’s collections and archives.”
View of conservation studios overlook at V&A East Storehouse:
image © Diller Scofidio + Renfro. Image courtesy of Victoria and Albert Museum, Londonn
Arts and Heritage Minister, Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay, said: “I am delighted that this historic move is getting underway. Backed by funding from DCMS, the creation of the V&A East Storehouse is sure to become a magnificent cultural hub. From ancient artefacts to Naomi Campbell’s iconic Vivienne Westwood platform shoes, its cavalcade of wonders will be free for the public to enjoy for years to come.”
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: “This is a significant milestone in the development of East Bank at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. We are bringing together leading institutions as part of our capital’s biggest single investment in culture and education for over a century and the V&A East Storehouse will offer Londoners and visitors a unique opportunity to see some incredible collections. Culture is at the heart of our city and by working with partners to bring together young and emerging creative talent, we are helping to build a better London for everyone.”
View of one of the creative studios at V&A East Storehouse:
image © Diller Scofidio + Renfro. Image courtesy of Victoria and Albert Museum, Londonn
V&A East
One of the UK’s most significant new museum projects, V&A East celebrates global creativity and builds on the V&A’s long-standing heritage in east London and founding mission to make the arts accessible to all. Currently under construction in Stratford’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, V&A East encompasses two new sites – V&A East Storehouse at Here East and V&A East Museum on the Stratford Waterfront.
V&A East is committed to creating opportunities for young people and fostering the next generation of creatives. Across its two sites, it will celebrate making, highlight underrepresented movements and perspectives, and support the creation of new work. V&A East is part of East Bank, the Mayor of London’s Olympic legacy project to create a new arts, innovation, and education hub in Stratford’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. vam.ac.uk/east
East Bank
East Bank is a new £1.1 billion powerhouse of culture, education, innovation and growth being built on Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Stratford, east London. East Bank will be spread across three sites – UCL East (UCL’s new campus), Stratford Waterfront (Sadler’s Wells, BBC, the V&A East Museum and UAL’s London College of Fashion) and Here East (the V&A East Storehouse, and an existing space for UCL).
The scheme, driven with significant backing and funding from the Mayor of London and support from HM Government, will provide skills and jobs for local people, bring over 10,000 students to the site, and attract thousands of visitors from London and beyond. East Bank will help to cement the capital’s reputation as a world leader in culture, education and innovation creating 2,500 jobs, £1.5 billion of economic benefit and 600 new homes.
East Bank will build on the area’s existing creative credentials, and East Bank partners have been building relationships and delivering projects with the thriving arts, fashion and community organisations based in the area, including the artistic community in Hackney Wick, East London Dance, Theatre Royal Stratford East, Studio Wayne McGregor and many more.
V&A East Storehouse Building, Stratford, London, England, images / information from Victoria & Albert Museum, UK
Previously on e-architect:
V&A East Storehouse Architecture
23 Feb 2023
David Bowie Centre at V&A East Storehouse
Photograph of David Bowie Performing as The Thin White Duke on the Station to Station tour, 1976:
photograph by John Robert Rowlands © John Robert Rowlands and The David Bowie Archive
David Bowie Centre at V&A East Storehouse
V&A East Museum Why We Make galleries
V&A East Museum Why We Make galleries
V&A East museum building Stratford
V&A East museum building Stratford
Another building design at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park:
Bridgewater Triangle
image courtesy of architects practice
Bridgewater Triangle Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park
Stratford Architecture
Recent Building Developments in Stratford, Borough of Newham, East London:
V&A East Museum, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park
Design: O’Donnell + Tuomey Architects
photo © Victoria and Albert Museum, London
V&A East Museum Stratford
Buildings for the V&A, the London College of Fashion and Sadler’s Wells in Stratford
Design: Allies & Morrison / O’Donnell & Tuomey / Arquitecturia
image from architects practice
UEL Stratford Campus Building
image from architects
UEL Stratford Campus Newham
University Square Stratford
University Square Stratford – USS London
UEL Stratford Campus
UEL Stratford Campus Building
London Aquatics Centre
Design: Zaha Hadid Architects
London Aquatics Centre
Westfield Stratford City
Westfield Stratford City
Stratford Island University Centre
Design: make architects
Stratford Island University Centre
London Architectural Designs
London Architecture Designs – chronological list
London Architect – design practice listing on e-architect
London Architecture Designs – architectural selection below:
The Royal College of Art, Howie Street
Architects: Herzog & de Meuron
photo © Iwan Baan
Royal College of Art Battersea Campus
Pinnacle House, at Royal Wharf, Newham, East London
Architecture: Mæ
photo courtesy of architects firm
Pinnacle House, Royal Wharf Newham
One Exchange Square, Broadgate, EC2
Design: Fletcher Priest Architects
image : Secchi Smith
One Exchange Square Broadgate Building
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