What is V&A East Storehouse?
Spanning four levels, and bigger than 30 basketball courts, V&A East Storehouse is a new purpose-built public space designed by world-renowned architects Diller Scofidio+Renfro with support from UK-based architects Austin-Smith:Lord. Taking over a section of the former London 2012 Olympics Media Centre in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park the warehouse-type space is designed to give unprecedented access to the V&A.
As well as providing a purpose-built home for over 250,000 objects, 350,000 library books and 1,000 archives from the V&A’s collections, Storehouse is a new kind of museum experience. It gives you a chance to see behind the scenes of a working museum, explore why and how objects get collected by museums, find out how they are cared for, and uncover the stories they tell about us and our world.
The central Weston Collections Hall stretches across three levels, with over 100 mini curated displays literally ‘hacked’ into the sides and ends of storage racking for you to explore. You can zoom in on east London’s rich heritage of artistry, activism and resistance, explore the V&A’s newest acquisitions by transgender and non-binary artists and get an insight into cutting-edge scientific research from conserving fragile plastics to protecting cultural heritage.
Large objects and tiny things
Because the V&A’s collections span 5000 years of human creativity, the team at Storehouse cares for everything from the pins used to secure a 17th century ruff to a two-storey section of a maisonette flat from the Robin Hood Gardens housing estate, demolished in 2017.
The sheer scale of Storehouse means it is now possible to see other huge artefacts, including The Kaufmann Office (the only complete Frank Lloyd Wright interior outside of the US) and the spectacular 15th-century gilded wooden ceiling from the now-lost Torrijos Palace in Toledo, Spain.
Community and collecting
These large-scale objects are brought to life with a series of co-production projects, made in collaboration with communities and creatives from east London. New performances and artworks, oral histories and films highlight diverse voices and open up multiple meanings.
Storehouse also hosts pop-up displays, creative workshops, performances and screenings alongside live encounters with the museum's work – where you can see conservators at work on everything from paintings to puppets.
As part of providing radical access to the national collections held by the V&A, Storehouse will be home to part of the revolutionary Order an Object experience. You can book in advance to see any object on-site up close, and experienced handling staff will be on hand to help you. Storehouse is also the meeting point for daily drop-in Object Encounters, a series of serendipitous sessions led by staff and visiting experts, spotlighting different aspects of the collection.
A place for performance
Storehouse also opens up the Archives of Art and Design and Theatre and Performance for insights into the way artists, designers and performers work. The Study Centre has four multi-use areas, including The Clothworkers' Centre for the Study and Conservation of Textiles and Fashion and the National Video Archive of Performance, which holds over 300 live performance recordings. Storehouse is also home to the David Bowie archive, which occupies a dedicated section of the Study Centre. The archives of Glastonbury Festival and Talawa Theatre Company are held in Storehouse, as are instruments and items from pioneering British contemporary musicians such as PJ Harvey, The Who and The Rolling Stones.
V&A East Storehouse opens on 31 May 2025
