London’s Victoria and Albert Museum has announced an opening date for the newest branch of its museum. The five-story building, designed by the Irish architecture firm O’Donnell + Tuomey, will open to the public on Apr. 18, 2026. The V&A East, as the new outpost is called, will be home to exhibitions, live events, site-specific commissions, and performances.
V&A East Storehouse opened in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park earlier this year. Designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro, it houses over half a million objects and books from the V&A’s collections. Visiting the Storehouse is free, and it’s meant to offer a behind-the-scenes look at how a sprawling institution like the V&A cares for and exhibits its collections and archives. Other venues that make up new the East Bank cultural quarter include BBC Music Studios, the performing arts venue Sadler’s Wells East, and new campuses for University College London and the London College of Fashion.
Next spring, the museum component of the V&A’s long-awaited expansion into east London will be complete. V&A East Museum will feature galleries dedicated to new acquisitions and commissions, along with others specifically focused on the artistic and manufacturing history of east London. There will also be a studio space on the museum’s top floor. Gus Casely-Hayford, director of the V&A East, told the Guardian that “young people can come in and have those transformative moments that change the trajectory of their lives.”
According to The Art Newspaper, artists Tania Bruguera, Carrie Mae Weems, and Rene Matić (who was nominated for the Turner Prize this year) will debut new work, commissioned by the V&A East, at the museum. Thomas J. Price, the artist whose controversial sculpture of a Black woman was on view in Times Square for a month and a half this spring, will have an installation at the entrance to the new museum.
