V&A East Storehouse – visual story

V&A East Storehouse is located inside the Here East building in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, Stratford. The closest step-free tube station is Hackney Wick.

When you leave the station, turn left to walk through the tunnel and along a pedestrianised road for about 100 metres.

Turn right on to Wallis Road and walk until you reach a bridge that crosses the canal. Take the lift or stairs to cross the bridge. Walk for around 80 metres until you reach East Bay Lane ahead of you.

Cross the bridge and walk for around 80 metres until you reach East Bay Lane ahead of you.

When you reach Parkes Street, you’ll see a large glass-fronted building with an orange Here East sign on the roof.

Turn right on to Parkes Street and walk for around 30 metres until you reach the entrance to V&A East Storehouse.

See our visit page for more information on how to get here

Entry to V&A East Storehouse is free and open to all. The entrance is step-free and you can get around the whole building without using stairs

V&A East Storehouse is laid out over four levels. It is a large building with space to store over 250,000 objects, 350,000 library books and over 1,000 archives, as well as working spaces to research and care for objects.

Watch a short video tour of V&A East Storehouse:

You’ll arrive at our welcome space, which is laid out over one floor on level 0.

Our team will greet you. They will let you know what to expect, how to navigate the building and answer any questions you have.

Ahead of you, you’ll find lockers to store your personal belongings. As this is a working storehouse, you’ll have to leave any bags or coats in these lockers. There is also a buggy park in this space.

Next to the lockers, you’ll find accessible toilets and a quiet room.

To the right of the welcome space, at the far end of the building, you can visit our cafe run by E5 Bakehouse. They serve hot and cold drinks and have a seasonal menu of pastries, breakfast, sandwiches and salads, with vegetarian, vegan and gluten free options.

You can enter the Weston Collections Hall through a set of stairs in front of the main entrance. The staircase is 1.3 metres wide. There is a short corridor in the middle of the staircase.

The lift to all levels is to the left of the stairs and the space inside each lift is 1.3 metres by 2 metres.

The Weston Collections Hall is a large open space laid out over a single level. There is a glass railing around the edge of the space.

In the centre there is a glass floor with a view of the Agra Colonnade and the storage space below.

There are walkways leading off the central space, which are a minimum of 1.6 metres wide. There are no dividing doors.

The walkway floors are metal grating.

One walkway to the left of the entrance staircase leads to Gallery 1, an enclosed space of 6 metres by 7 metres showing changing displays.

The walkway behind the entrance staircase leads to toilets and the lift to all levels.

Just off the central space is a staircase to Levels 2 and 3.

Level 2 is a circular grated walkway that is 1.6 metres wide. It is laid out over a single level. There is a glass railing along the edge of the walkway.

Along the left-hand side of the walkway is a fragment of Robin Hood Gardens. There is an audio point with projected sound playing stories from former residents.

The top right-hand corner of the walkway leads to Gallery 2, an enclosed space with 10 metres by 26 metres of floor area featuring changing displays.

Along the right-hand side of the walkway is Gallery 3, an open space with 6 metres by 8 metres of floor area featuring changing displays. Look up and you’ll see the Torrijos Ceiling, a 15^th century palatial masterpiece!

Further along is the entrance to The Study Centre, which is accessed through a large glass door with a handle. If you have an Order an Object booking, this is where you should go. A member of our team will greet you at reception and show you to one of the study rooms for your appointment.

In the right-hand corner of the walkway are toilets.

Level 3 is a circular grated walkway that is 1.6 metres wide. It is laid out over a single level. There is a glass railing along the edge of the walkway. From here, all four levels of the building are visible.

The bottom left-hand corner of the walkway leads to the lift to all levels and toilets. The lift lobby space on this level is 4 metres by 2 metres.

Along the left-hand side of the walkway is a projection hosting changing film content. This may have sound.

Further along is the Frankfurt Kitchen. There is a looped video with sound delivered via handset exploring stories of reclaiming culture through food.

The top-right hand corner of the walkway leads to a corridor with large double doors. Behind this is an overlook space of 3 metres by 4 metres with a view into the Conservation Studios

There is seating in the corridor leading to the overlook and a film with projected sound showing V&A conservators at work

There are also accessible toilets to the right of this space and an overlook onto Gallery 2 on the left, which has seating.

In the bottom right-hand corner is the Kaufmann Office, which can be viewed from a small entranceway with a glass barrier.

You can exit the building by the same way you arrived. The lifts and stairs from all floors will take you to the ground floor, where you can leave by the main entrance.