V&A Photography Centre

The V&A’s Photography Centre is the most extensive suite of galleries in the UK dedicated to a permanent photography collection. Spanning global contemporary photography and cutting-edge commissions, to interactive displays and themed galleries showcasing the rich breadth and history of the collection, the seven galleries of the completed Photography Centre – five of which are new additions – enable visitors to experience photography and its diverse histories in new ways. This sequence of five galleries demanded an architecture agile enough to clearly explain the idea of photography while addressing complex structural and curatorial challenges. The visitor experience ebbs and flows in intensity along the enfilade of rooms but remains coherent with the first phase. The first room, a digital gallery, instantly engages visitors with a large-scale AI digital native photography. This immersive space contrasts with the next room, Photography and the Book, which has a feeling of snug enclosure, presenting a moment to stop or study. The Royal Photographic Society (RPS) book collection forms the inner lining of the space, supported by a finely detailed structure of bookshelves, balustrades and bridges cantilevered from the gallery walls to avoid loading to the floors. We wrapped this scenography with a freestanding wall offering glimpses of a back-of-house space for the librarians. Insertions for book display are kept neutral: the artefacts are the ornamentation. The architecture takes a step back in the two display galleries that follow, minimising visual noise to maximise the impact of larger-scale pieces. The spaces, some of most significant 19th century galleries in the UK, are sensitively restored for 2d display, the original function when conceived as picture galleries. Simple display cases, a new parquet floor and track lighting touch the historic shell lightly, giving a feel of openness and volume. The scheme was co-designed with a group of young people to ensure the spaces felt relevant and inclusive. Their participation is evident in the final room, an interactive gallery, where they proposed an emphasis on the fundamentals of photography. A camera obscura demonstrates the photographic process, artefacts hover above cases lined in two-way glass, their workings exposed via backlighting at the touch of a button.