London's V&A has revealed new images and information about V&A East, a museum by O'Donnell + Tuomey and research center by Diller Scofidio + Renfro. Sited within London's Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, the projects will be built at the Here East complex and Stratford Waterfront. The V&A have stated that the museum will include two galleries to showcase the collections, while the research center aims to be a new model for collection storage and public display.
Designed as part of the billion dollar Olympicopolis cultural quarter, the O'Donnell + Tuomey museum was formed with an angular and faceted structure that will feature large triangular windows. Sheila O'Donnell and John Tuomey, founders of O'Donnell + Tuomey, have said that the museum design will be "a freestanding pavilion, closely connected to its surroundings, its faceted form active on all sides, easily accessible from different directions. Inside is a multi- level sequence of gallery spaces, connected by flowing stairs and big elevators, with display galleries and social spaces."
Only a short distance from the museum, Diller Scofidio + Renfro's research center will house 250,000 objects from the V&A's fashion, textiles, sculpture, furniture, painting, ceramics, glass, design, architecture and digital collections. DS+R conceived of the center with a vertically-organized program. Elizabeth Diller, Partner, DS+R, touched on the importance of the research center. "We’re excited to start experimenting with the V&A on this new model for collection storage and public display at Here East. Planned from the inside-out, V&A East will be like stepping into an immersive cabinet of curiosities—a three-dimensional sampling of the eclectic collection of artifacts, programmed with diverse spaces for research, object study, workshops, and back-of-house functions."
V&A East's two venues will be open to families, schoolchildren, students, artists and designers, to tourists, visiting academics, cultural enthusiasts and curious passers-by. The partners are already active in east London with programs of events, collaborations and activities developed together with local organisations and people from across the Olympic boroughs.
News via V&A Museum
