Transformation of the V&A’s west wing creates the UK’s largest photography gallery, restoring Grade I listed spaces and delivering five galleries for display, learning and public engagement.

The V&A Museum is the world’s largest museum of art and design in the heart of central London, housed within a collection of Grade I listed buildings dating from 1852-1901. Purcell’s project was the second phase in creating a home for the museum’s permanent collection of photographic materials.

As architect and lead consultant, heritage consultant, and principal designers, we embraced this opportunity to return these V&A back-of-house areas to their former glory as beautiful gallery spaces to be enjoyed by the public.

This suite of five galleries reimagines the museum’s historic west wing as a destination for contemporary photographic display, learning and interaction.

Originally designed by Captain Francis Fowke in the 1860s, the west wing spaces had been subject to decades of ad hoc use and alteration.

The newly expanded centre brings together heritage and innovation to stimulate public engagement across four new and one reconfigured gallery spaces, now totalling 570m². Set within some of the oldest parts of the V&A’s estate, the project transforms former storage and teaching areas into state-of-the-art public rooms, while reinstating their original Grade I-listed Victorian grandeur.

The result is the UK’s largest permanent space dedicated to photography. This suite of five galleries reimagines the museum’s historic west wing as a destination for contemporary photographic display, learning and interaction.