Architectural history of the V&A: Adapting to new challenges

Post-war additions

After the war, the Museum tackled its perennial problem - the lack of space. With no room left for new buildings, cutting into the existing spaces was the only answer. A first floor (now Rooms 103-6) was added round the perimeter of the North Court, a freestanding circular platform (Room 40a) inserted into the Octagon Court and three new floors put into Aston Webb's 18-metre-high Central Court. In 1974, the Royal College of Science building was converted to house the Department of Prints, Drawings & Photographs and renamed the Henry Cole Building. A modern link was built to join it to the main Museum and, at the same time, create a new entrance on Exhibition Road.

Restoration and FuturePlan

In the last decades of the 20th century, the priority was the repair of the existing fabric. Many of the early buildings had been built rather too hastily and were beginning to show their age. Now that the building is sound, the Museum can turn its attention to the displays. In an ambitious new programme, FuturePlan, the V&A is restoring original galleries to their former glory and creating new displays for the 21st century.