The Design Museum
Kensington High Street
Opened 24th November 2016
London’s Design Museum has reopened in its new home on Kensington High Street. The Grade II* listed building, which for many years housed The Commonwealth Institute, has been reimagined and transformed by architect John Pawson – giving the new museum 10,000sqm, three times the space of the museum’s old Shad Thames home which it vacated earlier in 2016.
The result of the 5-year-long restoration and renovation is a spectacular new Design Museum which opened to the public last week. The interior is open and airy, all pale wood, open galleried walkways and simple but elegant stairways. The famous parabola roof is as beautiful inside as it is outside – a triumph that presents endless different and pleasing vistas from wherever you stand and look up.
The museum building and the permanent collection display, Designer Maker User, are free for visitors to enjoy. There are two major temporary gallery spaces, presently hosting two paying exhibitions, in the basement is Beazely Designs of the Year (on until 19th February 2017) and on the ground floor you can find Fear and Love: Reactions to a Complex World (on until 23rd April 2017). The museum shop is a brilliant place to pick up some gifts for design-savvy friends and family – it is chockfull of design classics, books, jewellery, ceramics and furniture.
This bigger and better Design Museum is a great addition to the London museum scene and promises to deliver a fitting space for the best of the design world.
All photographs ©The London Art File
Admission: FREE
For prices for temporary exhibitions see Design Museum website
Opening Hours:
Daily 10am – 6pm
The Design Museum
224-238 Kensington High Street
London, W8 6AG
The London Art File 