Exploring contemporary design culture in a superb 1960s building
The Design Museum is the only museum in the UK devoted exclusively to contemporary design and architecture. Founded in 1989 by Sir Terence Conran, it first opened in a converted banana warehouse in Shad Thames. In 2016, the museum moved to a landmark 1960s building in West London. Formerly the home of the Commonwealth Institute, the now Grade II* listed building features a futuristic-looking double paraboloid curved roof, a feat of engineering that was intended to evoke a tent pitched in the leafy surroundings of Holland Park. The building was redeveloped for the museum by a design team led by John Pawson. In 2018, the Design Museum was named European Museum of the Year.
The museum’s permanent, free display features nearly 1,000 items of 20th and 21st century design—from architecture, fashion, furniture, product, graphic design and transport—and is an important record of the key designs that have shaped the modern world. The museum also displays temporary exhibitions and features the Swarovski Foundation Centre for Learning, the 202-seat Bakala Auditorium and a reference library with archival material relating to the history of the museum.
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