Victoria and Albert Museum Main Entrance

V&A Future Plan Publication

Cromwell Road  entrance and museum signage

V&A FuturePlan is all about improving physical and intellectual access to the museum. One of the earliest projects was to create step-free access from the pavement into the building itself. Pringle Richards Sharratt inserted gently sweeping ramps on either side of new, generously widened steps to allow easy access into the museum for all visitors. Inside, the grand entrance and dome were also improved to create a brighter, more welcoming arrival point for visitors.

Another important early FuturePian project was the design and deployment of a new wayfinding system, designed by Holmes Wood. The V&A's vast estate is labyrinthine, with a complicated arrangement of spaces that are notoriously hard to navigate. lt has 140 galleries, three visitor entrances, seven floors and 26 flights of stairs and lifts.

Holmes Wood's challenge was to establish a single unifying language for all the museum's spaces, which could be extended as the museum developed. They created a disciplined and simple identification system comprising banners and room numbers for galleries and pictograms for services such as lifts, shops and toilets. The solution also included a new printed map, which guides visitors to highlights as well as to all the collections and services, using the same visual vocabulary as the signs. There are few spaces within the V&A that are not display areas, so the approach had to be both sensitive and authoritative.  (pp 18-19)

Designed by Pringle Richards Sharratt

Refurbishment completed: 2001, Area: 410m2, Engineers: Alan Baxter & Associates, Lighting: PRS, Project Manager: Bovis Lend Lease, Awards: Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea Design 2002 Award, Signage design: Holmes Wood, Cost: £760,000.