V&A has opened its doors to its new storehouse in Stratford

Image: courtesy of Diller Scofidio + Renfro - internal render view of Altamira Palace marquetry ceiling installed at V&A East Storehouse

Located at Here East in London's Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, the V&A East Storehouse is billed to reinvent the idea of museum archives and storage. With a design led by Diller Scofidio + Renfro (and supported by Austin-Smith:Lord), the Storehouse - which opened this weekend - will bring treasures out of storage and into public view for the first time in generations.

Diller Scofidio + Renfro describes the project:

'The centre is a purpose-built home for 250,000 objects, 350,000 books and 1,000 archives from the V&A’s collection of fashion, textiles, furniture, theatre and performance, metalwork, ceramics, glass, sculpture, architecture, paintings and product design. Visitors will be invited on a behind-the-scenes journey that uncovers and demonstrates how and why objects are collected, how they are cared for, conserved and researched and how they help make sense of our past, present and future as part of exhibitions and public programmes.

'A central public collection hall will turn the storage inside out. A rich array of objects will be on display for visitors to explore – from some of the smallest curiosities in the collection to the largest and most significant rooms and building fragments. Highlights will include Frank Lloyd Wright’s 1930s office for Edgar J Kaufmann Jr. – a unique and complete 20th-century plywood interior – and a 15th-century marquetry ceiling from the now destroyed Altamira Palace near Toledo, Spain, which will be resurrected within the centre as a real architectural element above a new public space for displays and events.

'Further spaces within the Centre will host pop-up displays, workshops, performances and screenings alongside live encounters with the museum’s work – from conservation and research to exhibition preparation. This new model builds on the continued success of The Clothworkers’ Centre for the Study and Conservation of Textiles and Fashion located at Blythe House in West London where the V&A’s collection is currently stored.

'A dedicated viewing gallery will be created to showcase a changing display of rarely-seen large rolled objects from the V&A’s extraordinary collection of theatre stage cloths, carpets, textiles, tapestries and paintings, including a 15-meter-wide theatrical backcloth designed by Natalia Goncharova for the 1926 Ballets Russes London production of Stravinsky’s Firebird.

The V&A East Storehouse will open in 2024 as part of East Bank, a new powerhouse of culture, education, innovation and growth taking shape in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park as part of the London 2012 Olympic legacy.'

The V&A states:

'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.'