Glazed Roof at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London
The Victoria and Albert Museum is one of the world’s most important museums of design and applied arts. The floor area of the exhibition space totals 45 000 m², divided among 145 rooms, and the musuem has about 4 million items in its collection. In 2001 the Future Plan was implemented, including a renovation phase expected to last about ten years. The site, in South Kensington, has been in use for over 150 years; it had become necessary to remodel several galleries, but also to come up with new ideas for the café and garden as well as for the entrance situation, signage system and pedagogical concept. Access to the so-called Perimeter Galleries on the museum complex’s southeast side was difficult because of the many different levels. In addition, there was almost no visual connection between adjacent exhibitions. In this wing, the Medieval and Renaissance Collection provides a glimpse of Europe’s art and culture, from the decline of the Roman Empire to the beginning of the modern era, in an exhibit of 1800 artefacts – among them Leonardo da Vinci’s notebooks.
