Bold V&A Dundee museum design by Japanese architect to put ‘fire in the belly’ of forgotten Scottish city
Dundee is looking for a repeat of the impact Frank Gehry’s Guggenheim Museum had on Bilbao, Spain, with the opening of the Victoria and Albert Museum branch
An architectural gem has sparked hopes of a new start for the long-forgotten city of Dundee on Scotland’s northeastern coast.
Japanese architect Kengo Kuma, who is designing Tokyo’s 2020 Olympic Stadium, is the brains behind the new design museum that resembles two hulls sitting side by side on the banks of the River Tay – a nod to Dundee’s long history of shipbuilding.
The V&A Dundee’s concrete walls are covered in panels of grey rough stone to recall a craggy Scottish cliff, and an arch between the twin structures links the road to the river – a reflection of Kuma’s goal to reconnect the city with the sea.
The second offshoot of the Victoria and Albert Museum outside London, after the V&A Gallery that opened in Shenzhen, southern China, in 2017 houses treasures such as a salvaged tea room designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh and a 15th century Book of Days.
These vie with modern artefacts such as a dazzling Cartier tiara with moving wings and original storyboards from Dundee’s own Beano children’s comic, featuring Dennis the Menace in his characteristic striped jumper.