CASE STUDY YOUNG V&A


Radically stripped out, cleaned up, and brightened with all the original windows and rooflights reinstated, the elegant steel and glass, Grade II listed structure of the Young V&A (formerly Museum of Childhood) has been reinvented and repurposed as a place for creativity, ingenuity and joy – joy being the key instruction from co-design workshops which underpinned the museum’s five-year long reinvention. De Matos Ryan is responsible for the streamlined, pared back and re-illuminating architectural work, plus the more structural but less visible installation of new teaching spaces in the lower ground floor. To draw visitors up to the first floor, their Helter Skelter staircase is so much


more than just a staircase: it’s an immersive, kaleidoscopic spatial sequence with mirror panels in which the children can see themselves and the environment reflected. AOC, responsible for exhibition and interior design, also spent a huge amount of time exploring ideas with local primary and secondary school children, as well as parents, to create an experience-led museum that facilitates a huge range of activities. These range from the 0-3-year-olds Mini Museum, which features 111 different textures and 40 colours, to the Performance space, clad in red like a Victorian theatre (or nightclub), where music, storytelling and dance find a natural home, as does dressing up (costumes/fashion being one of the V&A’s key collection categories). Led by the designated topics and themes, the collection is arranged


RIGHT: LUKE HAYES COURTESY OF VICTORIA AND ALBERT MUSEUM, LONDON BELOW RIGHT: DAVID PARRY COURTESY OF VICTORIA AND ALBERT MUSEUM, LONDON


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