London’s Victoria and Albert Museum has announced the opening date for its newest branch of the museum. Designed by Irish architecture firm O’Donnell + Tuomey, the five-story building will open to the public on April 18, 2026. The new outpost, known as V&A East, will be home to exhibitions, live events, site-specific commissions and performances.
The V&A East Warehouse opened in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park earlier this year. Designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro, it houses more than 500,000 V&A collections and books. Tours of the warehouse are free and are designed to give people a behind-the-scenes look at how an institution as vast as the Victoria and Albert Museum cares for and displays its collections and archives. Other venues making up the new East Bank cultural precinct include the BBC Music Studios, performing arts venue Sadler’s Wells East and the new campuses of University College London and London College of Fashion.
Next spring the museum portion of the Victoria & Albert Museum’s long-awaited east London expansion will be completed. V&A East will feature galleries dedicated to new collections and commissioned works, as well as additional galleries focusing specifically on the history of art and making in East London. There will also be a studio space on the top floor of the museum. Gus Casely-Hayford, director of the V&A East, told the press guardian “Young people can come in and enjoy those transformative moments that change the trajectory of their lives.”
according to The Art NewspaperArtists Tania Bruguera, Carrie Mae Weems and Rene Matić (nominated for this year’s Turner Prize) will debut new works commissioned by the V&A East at the museum. The artist Thomas J. Price, whose controversial sculptures of black women were on display in Times Square for a month and a half this spring, will place an installation at the entrance to the new museum.
