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Once open, the museum aims to champion children’s creativity and encourage visitors to develop their skills through performance, play and design
Lauren Heath-Jones | Planet Attractions | 08 Oct 2021
The museum is expected to reopen in 2023 Credit: Victoria & Albert Museum
Construction has begun on a £13m (US$17.7m, €15.3m) redevelopment that will see London’s Museum of Childhood transformed into the Young V&A museum.
Plans show that the museum, housed inside a Grade II-listed building in Bethnal Green, East London, will be designed to encourage visitors to develop their creative skills through performance, play and design.
It will consist of three parts: Play, Design and Imagine. Play will be a free-play construction area, while Imagine will consist of a large amphitheatre-style stage and Design will be a working open studio.
It will also feature three workshops dedicated to learning and a reading room on the lower ground floor.
The museum will consist of three parts: Play, Design and Imagine CREDIT: VICTORIA & ALBERT MUSEUM
London-based architecture firm AOC Architects will carry out the fit-out of the museum, while De Matos Ryan architects will be responsible for the full base build design, including structural changes, light and acoustic upgrades, heritage restoration and the delivery of the workshops. Construction services will be provided by Quinn London contactors.
The redesign is being funded by private donations, including an endowment from the Wolfson Foundation, with two-thirds of the £13m (US$17.7m, €15.3m) total having already been raised.
The museum originally opened in 1872 as the Bethnal Green Museum. In 1974 it was renamed the Museum of Childhood by then V&A director Roy Strong. It is expected to reopen in 2023, after closing its doors in March 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Beloved by the local community, but in need of modernisation, this ambitious transformation will enable the V&A Museum of Childhood to unlock its huge potential to nurture the potential of future generations and become a global champion of children’s creativity,” said V&A director Tristram Hunt.
Visitors will be encouraged to develop their skills through performance, play and design CREDIT: VICTORIA & ALBERT MUSEUM
“We want to empower children to realise that every act of creativity is impactful, whether it’s self-expression through their clothes, building a world on Minecraft, or launching a school climate strike,” Hunt said.
“By bringing together the V&A’s world-class collections with immersive displays anchored in children’s everyday lives, we will offer an outstanding day out for families, for free.”
Additionally, the Young V&A has also revealed details of a host of new acquisitions, which it hopes will showcase the social and environmental issues being faced by the younger generations.
Among the acquisitions is a skateboard belonging to13-year-old skateboarder Sky Brown, who won a Bronze medal for Team GBR at Tokyo 2020. Brown is the youngest professional skateboarder in the world and is Britain’s youngest-ever Olympian.
The museum will champion children’s creativity CREDIT: VICTORIA & ALBERT MUSEUM
She said: I’m so excited that my skateboard will go on show at the Young V&A and love the idea of a museum that exists to inspire young people and help them discover their superpowers.
The museum will also host the ‘Hero Arm’ developed by Open Bionics, a UK-based prosthetics company, as well as a clothing collection designed by sustainable fashion designer and humanitarian, Bethany Williams.
The Young V&A will also be home to more than 33,000 existing objects from the V&A’s National Childhood Collection.
Writing in the Evening Standard, Hunt said: “From the gaming industry to graphic design, from diplomacy to healthcare systems – we need creative people. Museum collections are there to be used, by all, as a sourcebook to feed the imagination, So we must stop talking down to the ‘lost’ generation and start providing the tools that young people need to shape fulfilling lives.”
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