V&A launches revised contest for fashion gallery revamp

The team selected for the estimated £1 million design contract will reconfigure the museum’s Octagon Court, which features items from its collection of 14,000 outfits dating from 1600 to the present, including works by Vivienne Westwood, Mary Quant and Alexander McQueen.

The latest two-stage procurement comes just five years after Roz Barr Architects won an earlier competition to revamp the room, officially known as Gallery 40. The practice defeated Farshid Moussavi, Alison Brooks, 6a architects, Ab Rogers Design and Pernilla Ohrstedt Studio.

The V&A said: ‘Roz Barr Architects [was] appointed as designers of the Fashion Gallery in 2019, which was paused following the pandemic. The project scope, ambition and team structure have since then changed markedly.’

The new £7.13 million revamp  comes just 12 years after 6a architects completed a light-touch £950,000 refurbishment of the 1,580m² gallery, which was originally designed by Aston Webb as part of the museum’s 1909 expansion.

According to the brief: ‘V&A South Kensington holds one of the greatest collection of fashion in the world housed in one of the most spectacular spaces in the country.

‘This project offers a unique opportunity to redesign the Octagon Court and convert it into an accessible, inclusive and participatory space that will allow us to harness the extraordinary potential and popularity of our collections, building on our reputation as a world-leading source of inspiration for all.’

Founded in 1852, the V&A is the world’s largest museum dedicated to design and the decorative arts with more than 2.3 million objects in its collection.

The fashion gallery upgrade is the latest project to emerge from the museum’s high-profile FuturePlan renewal programme, which aims to harness the ‘best contemporary designers’ to improve visitor facilities inside the Grade I-listed Aston Webb-designed landmark.

Recently completed upgrade projects include a photography centre by David Kohn Architects, a new £1 million shop by Friend and Company, a members’ room by Carmody Groarke and a £2.25 million overhaul of the museum’s main entrance on Cromwell Road by Sam Jacob Studio.

Earlier this year, the museum launched a competition to rethink its historic galleries used to house artefacts from south Asia. In 2022, JA Projects – working with A Practice for Everyday Life and Larry Achiampong – won a contest to design two exhibition spaces inside the Victoria and Albert Museum’s new east London outpost.

The fashion gallery competition aims to enhance the visitor experience inside the Grade I-listed Octagon Court by ‘conveying the drama, diversity and richness of global fashion in innovative ways.’ The completed project will aim to ‘elegant and stimulating space for the museum’s unique and fascinating collection of fashion, creating a distinctive destination gallery.’

Key ambitions include creating a ‘accessible, inclusive and participatory space’ with the potential to host performances and social events alongside the exhibitions.  The project will restore the ‘architectural splendour of the iconic Octagon Gallery’ while also removing its current mezzanine, temporary exhibition area and shop.

Judges will include the V&A’s head of procurement, David Osborne; head of projects Katie Burrell; Natalia Ferreiro, project manager; and Oriole Cullen and Christine Checinska, lead curators of the gallery.

Round one Bids will be evaluated 40 per cent on case studies, 35 per cent on team composition and 25 per cent on experience. Shortlisted teams will be invited to attend a creative pitch event and will be eligible to receive a £2,000 honorarium.

The winning team will be expected to provide architectural design services, lighting design, structural engineering, M&E engineering, heritage consultancy, fire and access consultancy, and CDM services.

Stage two bids for the commission will be evaluated 70 per cent on quality and 30 per cent on price. Applicants must hold employer’s liability insurance of £5 million, public liability insurance of £5 million and professional indemnity insurance of £1 million.

The project is scheduled to complete in 2027.