The keenly-awaited V&A East Storehouse, which officially opened on Saturday (31 May), is the size of 30 basketball courts and houses all-manner of items.
Designed by world renowned architects Diller, Scofidio and Renfro, it opens as part of “East Bank”, the new cultural quarter in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.
A “ground-breaking” new museum experience spanning four levels and 16,000square metres – bigger than 30 basketball courts – the V&A East Storehouse, takes over a large section of the former London 2012 Olympics Media and Broadcast Centre.
It doesn’t there because, opening on the same site in 13 September, is the free to access The David Bowie Centre which will be the new home of David Bowie’s Archive, a real treat for fans of the rock icon.
The new V&A East Storehouse itself a new purpose-built home for no less than 250,000 objects, 350,000 books and 1,000 archives. A world-first in size, scale and ambition, the site immerses visitors in over half a million works spanning every creative discipline from fashion to theatre, streetwear to sculpture, design icons to pop pioneers.
Described as a “busy and dynamic working museum store with an extensive self-guided experience,” visitors will have the chance to get up-close to national collections “on a scale and in ways not possible before.”
Tim Reeve, Deputy Director and COO, V&A, who developed the concept, said: “V&A East Storehouse is a completely new cultural experience, transforming how people can access their national collections on a scale unimaginable until now.
“From conservation and how we care for our collections and cultural heritage around the world, to the artistry of our museum technicians and new research – there’s so much to discover.
“I hope visitors enjoy finding their creative inspiration and immersing themselves in the full theatre and wonder of the V&A as a dynamic working museum.”
Through a radical new ‘order an object’ service, the public can now also book to access any object at the museum for free, seven-days-a-week.
The collection houses everything from mid-century furniture to ancient Egyptian shoes and Roman frescoes to an early 14th century Simone Martini painting and Leigh Bowery costumes.
There’s also Althea McNish fabrics, vintage band t-shirts and performance posters, and avant-garde fashion and couture from Balenciaga, Schiaparelli, Comme des Garcons, Issey Miyake and Vivienne Westwood.
“There’s something for everyone to explore,”
said a spokesman.
Over 250 appointments have already been booked to see over 1,000 objects from 14th century and contemporary ceramics to a 17th century carpet from Iran, 1930s wedding dresses and Julia Margaret Cameron photographs.
So far, the most popular item ordered is a 1954 pink silk taffeta evening dress by Cristóbal Balenciaga.
Elizabeth Diller, of Diller Scofidio + Renfro, the firm that designed the architecture for the museum, said: “To celebrate the heterogeneity of the V&A’s collection of collections—spanning a broad variety of mediums, scales, and historical periods—visitors will experience a sense of being immersed in a vast cabinet of curiosities.
“The Collections Hall invites visitors to explore pre-curated works surrounding them, not according to conventional curatorial logics or standard storage taxonomies, but guided instead by their own curiosity.”
She added,
“It has been a joy to work with the V&A’s curators and conservators in creating this new kind of institution: neither warehouse nor museum, but rather a hybrid shared by staff and the public with expanded opportunities for access and exchange
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