London's iconic Victoria and Albert Museum, more commonly known as the V&A, steps into an expansionist era in 2025 when it opens a brand-new complex designed to provide more public viewing of its massive and ever-growing collection.
The V&A's main museum, a Victorian-era, overstuffed labyrinth containing the world's finest examples of decorative arts, has long been inadequate for displaying the abundance of the collections—many treasures simply can't be shown in the space available. A lot of beloved objects have to be rotated into storage and are only visible online at the museum's website.
So the V&A is now constructing V&A East, a custom-built museum where the institution can share some of the best works from our modern era, including the hot pink Molly Goddard dress from Beyoncé's Black Is King to works by fashion photographer Jamie Hawkesworth.
The established V&A museum in South Kensington will still be about classic pieces such as priceless Persian rugs and medieval beds, Renaissance sculpture and art, and craftsmanship by silversmiths and jewelers. But the new V&A East, which opens in the spring of 2026 on land that was redeveloped for the 2012 Summer Olympics and once housed the games' broadcast center, will be a vessel for the art that defines our own time.
One of the most interesting parts of the V&A's new Stratford complex in East London will be the V&A East Storehouse, a glassy museum facility displaying tens of thousands of items removed from hidden stacks in non-public storage facilities so that visitors can see those objects.
The 170,000-square-foot complex will contain 250,000 objects and 350,000 books. Much of the Storehouse will open May 31, 2025.
Among the giant objects on permanent display at the Storehouse will be the Torrijos Ceiling from the Altamira Palace in Spain (from around 1490), the Kaufmann Office by famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright (circa 1937), and a stage cloth from the legendary Ballets Russes (1924) standing over 10 meters (nearly 33 feet) tall.
On September 15, 2025, the V&A Storehouse will open its most groundbreaking section: The David Bowie Centre for the Study of Performing Arts, where some 90,000 items relating to the pivotal pop culture figure will be permanently preserved.
The estate of David Bowie gifted the archive of the artist's items to the V&A in 2023 following years of blockbuster success displaying some objects and selling souvenirs during sold-out pop-up ticketed shows at the V&A's main museum.
Bowie's estate is fully behind the new permanent exhibition, writing: "Spanning Bowie’s career, the archive features handwritten lyrics, letters, sheet music, original costumes, fashion, photography, film, music videos, set designs, Bowie’s own instruments, album artwork and awards. It also includes more intimate writings, thought processes and unrealized projects, the majority of which have never been seen in public before."
According to Artnet, highlights from the collection include "Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust getup and the Union Jack coat he designed with Alexander McQueen for the cover of his 1997 album, Earthling. There’s the Stylophone he played on 'Space Oddity,' given to him by T. Rex’s Marc Bolan, and the synthesizer he used for 1977’s Low, a gift from Brian Eno."
(Credit: Diller Scofidio + Renfro)
The new exhibition space will be packed with audio and video displays as well as individual items called out for special inspection, and everyday visitors will even be allowed to handle and study individual artifacts under the supervision of curators through the V&A's new Order an Object initiative. The system aims to correct some of the shortcomings of the overcrowded V&A exhibition halls by liberating more items from the archive and making them accessible on demand.
"We've been thinking carefully about how we house objects," V&A East’s Kate Parsons told the Museums Association. “Our Order an Object experience means that anyone can book online to see any part of any object in this building, which is world leading."
Bookings are not yet available for Order an Object at the V&A Storehouse, but one thing has been confirmed: The collection will be open 7 days a week and visiting will be free, just as it's free to visit the other V&A institutions in London.
Learn more about V&A East and the V&A East Storehouse at vam.ac.uk/east.
