On Saturday 31 May 2025, the Victoria & Albert Museum (V&A) opened the doors of its much-anticipated V&A East Storehouse, a working store and visitor attraction that has been more than a decade in the making. Designed by world-renowned architects Diller, Scofidio + Renfro, the 16,000m² building is the size of 30 basketball courts and …
V&A Opens East Storehouse: A Groundbreaking New Cultural Experience
On Saturday 31 May 2025, the Victoria & Albert Museum (V&A) opened the doors of its much-anticipated V&A East Storehouse, a working store and visitor attraction that has been more than a decade in the making.
Designed by world-renowned architects Diller, Scofidio + Renfro, the 16,000m² building is the size of 30 basketball courts and sits within Here East at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. It houses over 250,000 objects, 350,000 books, and 1,000 archives, making it one of the most ambitious projects of its kind anywhere in the world.
A World-First in Scale and Ambition
The Storehouse allows the public to encounter more than half a million works spanning every creative discipline — from fashion and photography to theatre, design, streetwear, sculpture, and pop culture.
Unlike traditional museum storage, the Storehouse is conceived as a working, living space, offering visitors close-up access to national collections on a scale never before possible.
It is the first of two new V&A cultural destinations in east London. The second, V&A East Museum, will open in spring 2026.
Order an Object: A Revolutionary Experience
One of the Storehouse’s most exciting innovations is Order an Object — a world-first system allowing visitors to select up to five items from the V&A’s vast holdings for a personal viewing. Already, over 250 appointments have been booked since its May launch, with items ranging from 14th-century ceramics to a 1954 Balenciaga evening dress.
Kate Parsons, Director of Collections Care and Access at the V&A, explains:
“These are your collections, and through Order an Object, you can see them up-close, on demand, in ways that mean something to you.”
Object Encounters & Large-Scale Icons
Visitors can also join Object Encounters, daily behind-the-scenes sessions guided by V&A staff. Early highlights include:
- A 1958 Givenchy silk evening cape like Audrey Hepburn’s in Funny Face
- A 16th-century Japanese suit of armour
- Arne Jacobsen’s Egg Chair (1958)
- A 1980 punk helmet hat by David Shilling
At the centre of the Weston Collections Hall, six monumental works anchor the experience, many unseen for decades. These include:
- Frank Lloyd Wright’s Kaufmann Office (1930s)
- A 15th-century gilded ceiling from Torrijos Palace, Spain
- Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky’s Frankfurt Kitchen
- The largest Picasso work in the world – the 1924 Le Train Bleu stage cloth, standing over 10m high and 11m wide
Archives, Conservation, and Design Stories
The Storehouse also houses the V&A’s Archive of Art and Design and the Archive of Theatre & Performance, alongside 10,000 volumes from the National Art Library. Through the new Object Lessons programme, visitors can observe conservation work live via glass overlooks and live-feed screens.
Curated displays explore three key themes:
- Collecting Stories
- Sourcebook for Design
- The Working Museum
New east London-inspired stories highlight items from Hackney, Stratford, and local grassroots collectives, placing global culture in dialogue with neighbourhood creativity.
The David Bowie Centre
Opening on 13 September 2025, the David Bowie Centre for the Study of Performing Arts will become the permanent home of Bowie’s archive. Made possible by the David Bowie Estate alongside the Blavatnik Family Foundation and Warner Music Group, this centre will offer unparalleled access to the star’s costumes, set designs, lyrics, and photography.
Visiting V&A East Storehouse
📍 Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, Here East
📅 Open daily 10:00–18:00
🌙 Late nights every Thursday & Saturday until 22:00
🎟 Free entry | vam.ac.uk/east
Supported by the Garfield Weston Foundation, The Foyle Foundation, The Wolfson Foundation, and many others, the V&A East Storehouse marks a new chapter in public access to collections — immersive, dynamic, and deeply connected to community voices.
