Young V&A, Bethnal Green

2025 RIBA National Award

2025 RIBA London Award

Young V&A, Tower Hamlets, London
AOC Architecture and De Matos Ryan for Victoria & Albert Museum
Contract value: £8.4 million
GIA: 5,615m²
Cost per m²: £1,500

The former Museum of Childhood in Bethnal Green has been reimagined as the Young V&A through a commission by AOC Architecture and De Matos Ryan, The architects have transformed it into a light, bright and energising destination, refurbishing, upgrading and internally reordering the Grade II* listed building.

The project sought the widest possible engagement of local children and young people through an active process of co-design. The V&A proudly reports having consulted with 20,000 people from the local area through creative workshops. The results of this approach are surely responsible for the surge in visitor numbers and the palpable sense of energy and vitality since the museum reopened.

The architects have reconfigured the building’s vertical circulation to make it easy to access the upper levels, and a fun part of exploring the museum. A new sculptural ‘kaleidoscope’ stair has been added at the east end, and a generous ramp has been set off the main central space (now called the Town Square), to allow much-improved access for prams and buggies, as well as wheelchairs.

Natural light now floods this ‘square’, the former obscured single glazing having been replaced with heritage-suitable clear double glazing. New fitted benches, made from a London plane tree felled nearby, line its perimeter. Layers of old paint on the original structure have been stripped back to allow its construction and detailing to be fully appreciated, also enhanced by the improved lighting conditions.

The three main galleries – Design, Play and Imagine – offer different age groups stimulating content via some 2,000 curated V&A artefacts. The fourth space is simply called Exhibition. Each of the galleries is announced by bold supergraphics visible from the main entrance, making what is on offer clear and inviting. The northern stair between ground and first floor has been colonised by a deep-red theatre-type space, which offers a soft and calm environment, contrasting with the bold busyness of other areas.

On the lower-ground floor, the architects have skilfully reconfigured the plan to provide new learning spaces, with porthole windows that playfully allow views to, and borrow light from, the Town Square.

This museum has already had a long and fascinating history, the original structure having been disassembled from its former location in west London over 150 years ago and then reconstructed in Bethnal Green. In its new incarnation, it is set to endure and inspire young visitors for generations to come.

See the rest of the 2025 RIBA London winners here. And all our RIBA UK Award winners here.

View the full RIBA UK Awards 2025 process.

 

RIBA Regional Awards 2025 sponsored by Autodesk, EH Smith, Equitone and Velux