V&A Dundee: Kengo Kuma's Design Museum Opens September 15

The Victoria and Albert Museum's first branch outside London opens in Dundee, Scotland on September 15, 2018. Designed by Japanese architect Kengo Kuma, the museum is dedicated to design and forms part of a £1 billion urban regeneration plan for the post-industrial city, which UNESCO has designated a Creative City. The building features a muscular black concrete structure clad in 2,500 prefabricated stone lamellas, evoking the cliffs of the east coast. It spans 8,500 square meters across three floors, with 1,650 square meters of exhibition space, plus a café, bookshop, workshops, offices, and public areas. The design reconnects the city with the River Tay via a promenade linking Union Street to the waterfront. At the heart of the exhibition space is the restored Oak Room by Charles Rennie Mackintosh, a 13.5-meter paneled room originally designed for a Glasgow tea room in 1907. Kuma described the museum as "a living room for the city." The project was selected through an international competition in 2010, directed by Italian architect Maurizio Mucciola. Philip Long, the museum's director, stated the V&A Dundee aims to change understanding of design's importance in people's lives.