V&A Museum of Childhood
London, United Kingdom 2002–2007
Client: Victoria & Albert Museum Grade II* listed
The Museum of Childhood, part of the V&A’s family of museums, is well known for the quality of its collections and for its educational activities within the East End of London. Caruso St John worked on a phased plan to improve the facilities of the building and to refresh the display of its collections.
The original listed building has an extraordinary history, its iron structure was first built in west London, on the site of what is now the main V&A building, to house displays from the Great Exhibition of 1851. It was later dismantled and rebuilt with new facades in east London. A lack of funds at the time meant that the architect's full plans for the front of the museum were never carried out, leaving the building without the proper entrance and front-of-house facilities that a modern museum requires.
The first phase of improvements in 2003 concentrated on renovating the roof and ceiling, on opening up the main hall and entrance sequence, and a new exhibition display on the first floor. The second phase in 2006 completed the new collection displays, provided a new learning centre on the lower ground floor and constructed a new entrance building across the front facade of the grade II listed Victorian building. The new entrance pavilion, with its patterned elevations of red quartzite and brown porphyries, gives the Museum the formal front and outward aspect that it previously lacked.









Drawings

Ground floor and mezzanine level plan

Lower ground floor plan

First floor plan

Mezzanine gallery reflected ceiling plan

Sections through the new entrance building

Sections through the main building

North and south elevations

New entrance building, ground floor plan

Section through the new entrance building

New entrance building elevations
Credits
Location
London, United Kingdom
Date
2002–2007
Client
Victoria & Albert Museum
Heritage
Grade II* listed
Construction cost
£6.7 m
Area
4,500sq m
Caruso St John Architects
Adam Caruso, Peter St John
Project architects
Tim Collett, David Kohn
Project team
Adam Caruso, Rod Heyes, Adam Khan, James Payne, Peter St John, Kerstin Treiber, Esther Waterfield
Collaborating artist
Simon Moretti
Structural engineer
Alan Baxter & Associates
Services consultant
Max Fordham
Cost consultant, project management
Focus Consultants
Façade engineer
Arup Façade Engineering
Access consultant
David Bonnett & Associates
Main contractors
JTA Group, Wallis Special Projects
Photography
Hélène Binet, David Grandorge
Awards
RIBA Award
Finalist, RIBA Inclusive Design Award
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