It has been some ten years in the making, but the wraps have now finally come off what is the newest visitor attraction in London.
The keenly awaited V&A East Storehouse, which officially opened on 31 May, is the size of 30 basketball courts and houses all manner of items.
Designed by world renowned architects Diller Scofidio + 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 16,000 square metres, larger than 30 basketball courts, the V&A East Storehouse occupies a large section of the former London 2012 Olympics Media and Broadcast Centre.
It doesn’t end there. Opening on the same site on 13 September is the free-to-access David Bowie Centre, the new home of David Bowie’s Archive. A real treat for fans of the rock icon, it is expected to draw tens of thousands of visitors to this often overlooked part of the British capital.
A new kind of museum: Explore half a million creative works at V&A East Storehouse
The V&A East Storehouse is a purpose-built home for no fewer 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 of the 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.”
Visitors invited to ‘order an object’ and view rare treasures up close, for free
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, Roman frescoes, an early 14th century Simone Martini painting and Leigh Bowery costumes.
There are also Althea McNish fabrics, vintage band T-shirts and performance posters, and avant-garde fashion and couture from Balenciaga, Schiaparelli, Comme des Garçons, Issey Miyake and Vivienne Westwood.
“There’s something for everyone to explore,” said a spokesperson.
More than 250 appointments have already been booked to view 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 museum’s architecture, 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.”
UK Museums Minister Sir Chris Bryant said: “It’s great to see the V&A innovating in this way. V&A East Storehouse makes it possible for everyone to delve into a massive treasure trove of art, design and performance history in ways never seen before.”
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan agreed, saying: “V&A East Storehouse is a brand new, ground breaking museum experience in East Bank, London’s new educational and cultural district, that will revolutionise access to the world’s leading collection of art, design and performance.”
He said he was proud to be supporting this landmark project, which will allow Londoners and visitors to go behind the scenes for the first time ever and explore some incredible treasures, from Roman artefacts and modern-day music archives to the largest Picasso work in the world, all for free. It is the next building to open at East Bank and marks a hugely significant moment in the work to create the most ambitious cultural development in decades, helping to ensure London stays the creative capital of the world.
David Bowie archive to open this September as part of expanding East Bank
From the moment they emerge into the central Weston Collections Hall, visitors are met with stunning vistas across all levels, surrounded by a cross-section of the V&A’s collections.
Spanning ancient Buddhist sculpture to PJ Harvey’s guitar, paintings by Angelica Kauffman’s circle, costumes worn by Vivien Leigh, works by Sir Frank Bowling and Hew Locke, items from the Glastonbury Music Festival, Suffragette scarves, vintage football shirts, Thomas Heatherwick’s model for the London 2012 Olympic Cauldron, and road signs designed by Margaret Calvert, visitors can take their own path through over 100 mini curated displays embedded into the ends and sides of the storage racking.
Six large-scale objects anchor the space, on display for the first time in decades.
Highlights include the 1930s Kaufmann Office, the only complete Frank Lloyd Wright interior outside the United States; an exquisite 15th-century carved and gilded wooden ceiling from the now-lost Torrijos Palace in Spain; and a full-scale 20th-century Frankfurt Kitchen designed by Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky.
Also on show is a building section from Robin Hood Gardens, a former residential estate in east London; the 17th-century Agra Colonnade, an extraordinary example of Mughal architecture from the bathhouse at the fort of Agra; and the largest Picasso work in the world, a monumental Ballets Russes Le Train Bleu theatre stage cloth.
At 10 metres high and 11 metres wide, the Picasso-signed stage cloth has been rarely seen since its debut in 1924. It is on display in the new David and Molly Lowell Borthwick Gallery, built to showcase the V&A’s striking collection of large-scale textiles and theatre stage cloths on rotation.
V&A East Storehouse is the first of V&A East’s two new cultural destinations to open in east London. The second, V&A East Museum, is scheduled to open in spring 2026 and celebrates the power of making and creativity to bring about change. Created with young people and rooted in east London’s heritage, V&A East Museum spotlights the people, ideas and creativity shaping global culture today.
The new attraction is the latest development in what many now see as London’s most vibrant area. Formerly a rundown waste ground, Stratford has been totally transformed in recent years with swish shopping malls, state-of-the-art sporting facilities and new green spaces.
There are also top hotels just a stone’s throw from the V&A East Storehouse, collectively known as Hyatt Hotels London Stratford and individually as Hyatt House London Stratford and Hyatt Regency London Stratford. Their presence is seen as vitally important for local businesses which hope tourists visiting the new attraction will use the area as an overnight base for exploring the capital.
The former offers 92 studios and 35 one-bedroom suites providing apartment-style living with all the perks of a world-class hotel. All suites feature fully equipped kitchens, free Wi-Fi and stylish living and working spaces. At Hyatt Regency London Stratford, guests can enjoy 225 luxuriously appointed guestrooms and 10 stunning suites.
The V&A East Storehouse is the latest in a long series of exciting new projects that have created tens of thousands of new jobs and transformed the area beyond recognition.
