Undiscovered Scotland

 

V&A Dundee is the Dundee arm of the Victoria and Albert Museum in South Kensington, London. It dominates Dundee’s waterfront and is adjacent to Discovery Point and the dock which is home to the RRS Discovery. Not far to its east is the arrival point in the city of the Tay Road Bridge.

The idea for a V&A museum in Dundee to give a focal point for the regeneration of the city's waterfront dates back to 2007. The Japanese architect Kengo Kuma won a design competition in 2010. His concept was intended to reflect the cliff edges of eastern Scotland.

The site chosen was previously home to the Olympia Leisure Centre and work began in April 2014. Construction involved building a cofferdam to allow one wing of the V&A to expand out into the River Tay. V&A Dundee opened in September 2018 and cost £81.1 million. (Continues below images...)

 

It would be fair to say that the V&A Dundee has received some mixed reviews since it opened. Its very presence in Dundee is a huge vote of confidence in a city that has been transforming itself for the last two decades or more but reactions have ranged widely, from TIME Magazine who in 2019 declared it to be one of the very best places in the world to visit: to TripAdvisor, whose reviews saw it ranked in 2022 as 48th out of 112 things to do in Dundee.

Negative responses have revolved around the amount of unused space in the design. We approached our visit with open minds. As you near the building from any direction there’s no doubt that you are about to visit somewhere pretty unique. Once inside, the sheer size of the main space is awe-inspiring. Yes, not a great deal of it seems to be used for practical purposes, but that perhaps misses the point.

V&A Dundee is probably best thought of as an experience in itself. You go to see this remarkable building for its own sake as much as you go to view the exhibitions it hosts. On our visit we could see both sides of the argument, but came away feeling we had been somewhere truly memorable. We will certainly be returning.

V&A Dundee offers a mix of temporary and permanent exhibitions. The Scottish Design Galleries feature permanent design works from across Scotland and form the core of what’s on offer here. A particular highlight is Charles Rennie Mackintosh's Oak Room, originally completed in 1908 after being commissioned by Catherine Cranston for use as a tearoom on Ingram Street in Glasgow. It was restored for V&A Dundee from over 700 original parts that had been held in store by Glasgow City Council for over 50 years. The room took 16 months to install, and the total cost of the restoration and conservation was £1.3 million.