V&A Museum, Dundee

Shortlisted design for the new V&A Museum in Dundee, which aims to develop a new centre of 21st century design for Scotland and the world at the heart of Dundee’s waterfront. The project was a joint venture with Steven Holl Architects, New York.

Inspired by the Special Light and spectacular views from the Dundee waterfront, the new V&A Museum was proposed as an imposing prominent form sitting in the River Tay, its sail-shaped geometry echoing the maritime heritage.

Aiming to restore and regenerate the earl grey harbour as the foreground to the new museum, the design proposal includes a new landscape and water public space that can seamlessly integrate the new centre to the city of Dundee. The structure, which rises out of the River Tay, reflects the royal arch in Dundee, a monumental gate built in 1853, with a vertical height equal to the original gate. During the night, the building is lit by a system of automated lights which becomes a measure of time by the sequence in which it shimmers. The new museum’s sail-shaped geometry features a floating translucent skin of fine, stainless steel mesh. Not only does this material provide a wind shielding effect, it diffuses direct sunlight by serving as a semi-transparent membrane over openings to the galleries. At night, this screen has the capability to glow with reflected light.