V&A East Storehouse, a new working store and visitor attraction in Stratford’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, is opening on 31 May 2025.
One of two new V&A East sites, V&A East Storehouse is designed by architects Diller Scofidio + Renfro. Home to more than half a million creative works, from Samurai swords to Elton John’s costumes, it will offer unprecedented public access to the institution’s collections.
V&A East Storehouse’s David Bowie Centre will open on 13 September 2025. For this experience, the V&A has acquired a vast 90,000-piece archive of material from the estate of David Bowie.
Highlights include handwritten lyrics for songs such as ‘Fame’ (1975), ‘Heroes’ (1977) and ‘Ashes to Ashes’ (1980), as well as Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust costumes.
David Bowie Centre to open later
Tim Reeve, deputy director and COO of the V&A, said: “The opening of V&A East Storehouse next May delivers on our ambition to create a new standard for access to national collections, in an area of London with such a rich creative heritage and vibrant and talented creative community.
“Through V&A East Storehouse, visitors will be encouraged to immerse themselves in the magical behind-the-scenes world of museums and empowered to make their own journeys through the V&A’s global collections.”
Additionally, V&A East Storehouse will offer the ‘Order an Object’ experience, allowing visitors to book online in advance to see any object.
“Our world-first Order an Object experience opens up the V&A’s collections to everyone on their own terms, and on a scale never possible before,” Reeve added.
“We hope this will shift the dial in creating more transparent and personalised experiences, and for everyone to find their own inspiration in V&A East Storehouse.”
Described as a working store and hive of activity, V&A East Storehouse provides a self-guided experience, with visitors exploring why objects are collected, how they are cared for, conserved and displayed, and the latest research emerging from the collections.
The new space spans 16,000 square metres and four floors. It houses experiential installations and more than 100 small, curated displays “hacked” into the collection stores, the V&A said. Guests will also enjoy live events, creative workshops and activities.
As above, V&A East Storehouse is the first of V&A East’s two new sites to open. The second, V&A East Museum, is scheduled to launch in spring 2026.
“The opening of V&A East Storehouse next year will be a wonderful addition to our capital’s cultural landscape,” said London’s mayor Sadiq Khan.
“The working store will offer Londoners and visitors unprecedented free access to a wide variety of creative works, from Roman artefacts to modern-day music archives.”
Images courtesy of V&A
