Assemble: Making Room

A new interior space for Dundee

‘Making Room’ is an intricate new interior situated at the heart of the museum. Working with a group of local young people and alongside Dundee Central Library, the project was conceived by Assemble, V&A Dundee’s designers in residence. Cast panels have been assembled from a range of digital scans and are in the process of being installed on a circular timber structure. This living library of Dundee’s built heritage will form a new interior room, created by combining digital and traditional techniques.

The tools available to make buildings and objects are more sophisticated and wide-ranging than ever. But the increasing use of digital tools tends to produce an urban environment where buildings look and feel increasingly similar.

'Making Room' explores the relationship between contemporary production techniques and traditional building crafts. This new civic space for the city is comprised of fragments of architectural features found in and around Dundee and invites us all to look out for moments of beauty in our everyday surroundings.

During the previous months, prototypes, material tests, sketches and failed experiments filled the gallery and revealed the process of making. The finished structure will be transferred to Central Library in Autumn 2021 as an area for learning made by, and for, the people of Dundee.

Assemble are a collective whose work focuses on the design and production of the built environment. Our Michelin Design Gallery showcases Assemble’s previous projects and Making Room’s development, with the developing structure located adjacent to our Scottish Design Galleries.