East Bank is a new powerhouse for innovation, creativity and learning, bringing some of the world's leading cultural and educational institutions to Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.

East Bank is a major step in the legacy transformation of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. The Stratford Waterfront site brings together four major cultural institutions; V&A East Museum, UAL: London College of Fashion, the BBC Music Studios, and Sadler’s Wells East; forming London’s most significant cultural district for 150 years. An adjacent residential development of 600 homes will follow.

These institutions have a shared purpose of broadening access to culture, education, and creativity. This mission extends beyond their walls and into the landscape. The public realm acts as a common ground, capable of hosting large-scale performances, but also allowing incidental exposure to new cultural experiences, breaking down any implied barriers on who culture is for. The whole masterplan is a public setting for learning, performance, and art; embedded into one of the most culturally diverse communities in the world.

Along a gentle curve, the new buildings form a terrace. Each has a distinct identity even as they sit very close to one another, enabling exciting new encounters between institutions, their diverse audiences, and the general public. The Carpenters Road edge is more city-like with each of the buildings individually expressed yet forming a coherent street to match Stratford’s urbanity. Facing the park, the buildings become more relaxed in their form, opening out to the landscape beyond. A podium level wraps around this side of the buildings, providing south facing steps down to the waterfront.

In each building, generous public foyers reach out to the landscape, welcoming visitors in and allowing free movement between institutions.

The site is proving to be an equally successful backdrop to contemporary dance festivals, classical concerts, impromptu fashion shoots, weekday lunchbreaks, family days out, and long summer evenings with friends. The masterplan is hard-working yet carefully considered; able to improve access to culture, provide moments of quiet relaxation, and celebrate moments of collective joy.