A Decade in the Making

The V&A East Museum, designed by Irish architectural duo O'Donnell + Tuomey, will open its doors on April 18, 2026, in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, East London. Eleven years after winning the international design competition in 2015, the building joins the already-opened V&A East Storehouse — designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro — to form the centrepiece of East Bank, London's newest cultural quarter backed by the Mayor of London.

Architecture as Invitation

Positioned on Waterfront Square, the museum was conceived as a space welcoming to all — especially young people and East London communities who may have felt alienated by traditional museum environments. The architects responded with a permeable outer shell that wraps around the internal core, separating façade from structure.

This spatial separation was inspired by Balenciaga's sculptural tailoring — specifically the attention to the space between garment and body — and the Japanese concept of 'Ma' (間), meaning 'the space in between.' The interstitial zone becomes a circulation route guiding visitors upward behind a folded façade.

The exterior is clad in 479 sand-coloured precast concrete panels scored with profiles referencing the V&A's logo, creating a unified pattern designed to catch shifting daylight. Integrated benches at the ground and podium levels extend the museum's threshold into the public realm. Inside, terrazzo concrete floors echo the materiality of the surrounding plaza.

'Why We Make' — 500 Objects, One Question

The permanent galleries, titled Why We Make, will display over 500 objects from the V&A's collections spanning art, architecture, design, performance, and fashion, with themes including wellbeing, creative communities, social justice, and environmental action. The space was designed by JA_Projects in collaboration with A Practice for Everyday Life, artist Larry Achiampong, and the V&A East Youth Collective.

On opening day, new acquisitions will be shown for the first time, including design work by Yasmeen Lari and architectural models by Assemble.

The inaugural temporary exhibition, The Music Is Black: A British Story, traces the influence of Black British music on British culture from 1900 to the present, developed in partnership with BBC Music.

From Olympic Legacy to Cultural Capital

Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park became a symbol of urban regeneration after the 2012 London Olympics. East Bank extends that legacy, clustering the V&A, UAL, Sadler's Wells, BBC, and UCL in a single district — redistributing cultural infrastructure long concentrated in West London's South Kensington. V&A East represents not merely a spatial expansion but an architectural declaration about cultural access.