23 Mar 2019
V&A Museum of Childhood interiors to be designed by AOC
BY Luke Cloherty
The V&A Museum of Childhood (MOC) in East London has chosen architecture firm AOC to design the new interiors for its £13.5m (US$17.8m, €15.7m) overhaul project.
Working alongside base build and exterior architects De Matos Ryan, AOC will open up and modernise the Grade 2-listed building in Bethnal Green in London’s East End, creating three new galleries and more space so that the museum can display a significantly larger amount of its collection.
AOC will also hire a team of materials specialists and furniture designer for the revamp and will deliver its concept designs to the museum in Q3 2019.
"We're looking forward to developing a public building that is both an essential civic space for Bethnal Green and a physically and socially interactive museum for multi-generational and inter-cultural audiences," said AOC director Geoff Shearcroft.
AOC will also design a new entrance on the lower ground floor, which is intended to provide better access for school groups and young families.
De Matos Ryan’s plans, meanwhile, include creating a new interactive staircase for the main hall called the Kaleidoscope, which will be inspired by optical toys.
De Matos Ryan will also add new learning studios on the lower ground floor, next to AOC’s entrance.
The majority of the 26,000 objects from the National Childhood Collection are currently kept on site at the MOC, mostly on the lower ground floor, with some of the collection in conservation.
Currently around 7 per cent of the collection is on display at the MOC and the aim with the improvement works, which are scheduled to finish in 2022, is to display around 15 per cent of the collection.
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