The V&A is expanding eastwards with two new outposts to inspire the future creatives of London
In 2017, the V&A held a major exhibition celebrating the work of Cristóbal Balenciaga, widely known as the king of haute couture. The Spanish couturier was heavily influenced by Japanese culture and design, notably the concept of “ma”, or “the space in between”– in other words, as he reworked the traditional shape of western dresses, he became increasingly aware of the sense of space between the body and the fabric in which it was enveloped.
Inspired by this philosophy, when the Dublin-based architectur practice O’Donnell + Tuomey was commissioned to design the new V&A East Museum with a ‘unique architectural identity’, it used the Balenciaga exhibition as a key reference. The resulting structure, set to open in April, has an outer skin of pre-cast concrete that offers a similar sense of “ma” between facade and building.
V&A East exterior designed by architectur practice O’Donnell + Tuomey
The V&A East Museum (or simply V&A East) is one of the V&A’s two new sites situated in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Stratford. The first, V&A East Storehouse, quickly exceeded its visitor target when it opened last May and it’s easy to see why. Designed by widely admired New York-based design studio Diller Scofidio + Renfro, the Storehouse reinvented the objective of museum archives. It arranged an astounding 250,000 objects from the V&A’s collection on display on a series of “floating” floors.
You are asked not to touch anything, but everything is in touching distance, from Kenneth Grange’s archives to the fragment of Frank Lloyd Wright’s 1930s office for Edgar J Kaufmann Jr, with its stunning plywood interior.
You can also “Order an Object” online at least two weeks in advance of visiting, from the famous leg splint designed by Charles and Ray Eames in the early ’40s at the request of the US Navy, to the first-generation iPhone designed by Jonathan Ivefor Apple Inc. It’s the kind of place that you immediately want to return to, because the displays are simply too overwhelming to assimilate during a single visit.
Memories of a Chair Charm Necklace by Pindex Studio, £100, available for purchase at V&A East
In turn, V&A East houses Why We Make, a permanent collection of around 500 objects from more than 200 specialists based in over 60 countries, alongside temporary exhibitions.
First up is The Music is Black: A British Story, a celebration of 125 years of Black music in the UK and its impact on Britain. This deep-dive into genres includes lovers rock, 2 tone, jungle and trip-hop, and it will, like the Storehouse, focus on bringing previously unseen items into the public domain. In this case, Joan Armatrading’s childhood guitar sits alongside the conducting batons used by Black composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor in the early 1900s, and a series of photos by Dennis Morris.
Anyone who has ever visited the original V&A in South Kensington will know the struggle of wanting to beeline straight to the gift shop. And, happily, V&A East is stocked with equally alluring sundries (including a permanent David Bowie collection). The museum has collaborated with various artists and creatives to make exclusive merchandise reflecting the spirit of the new location – like rave-inspired ceramics and jewellery directly inspired by the V&A East museum objects, amongst others.
The V&A’s impressive new outposts are challenging the concept of what a museum can be in the 2020s. It’s about inviting the public in, asking them to engage and, in the words of V&A East director Gus Casely-Hayford, using ‘creativity to change the world for the better’.
The V&A East Museum opens on 18 April; vam.ac.uk
