V&A Opens Outpost in Shenzhen Arts Centre

LONDON’S V&A Museum has opened its first outpost outside the United Kingdom at the Sea World Culture and Arts Center in Shenzhen, China.

The USD $195M building was designed by Japanese practice Maki + Associates and contains galleries, restaurants, boutiques and a 330-seat theatre across some 73,900 square metres of space. 

Above: Shenzhen's Sea World Culture and Arts Center is home to the V&A's new outpost in China (image courtesy of the Design Society). Below: The cultural complex, seen here under construction, is intended as a centre-piece of the new waterfront development (image courtesy of the V&A).

The four-storey building is a hybrid concrete and steel construction with two underground parking levels, and a publicly accessible green roof reached by a wide staircase.

Above: A large stair leads to the publicly-accessible roof on top of the building (image courtesy of the Design Society).

Developed by state-owned conglomerate China Merchants Group, the arts centre serves as a cultural anchor to a new waterfront development in south east Shenzhen.

The London institution will lend its expertise, as well as items from its 2.5 million-piece strong collection for the next two years. After this date, the Chinese museum is set to become self-sufficient.

Above: The V&A is one of many museums and cultural institutions opening new outposts outside their home countries (image courtesy of the Design Society).

Over the past several years the V&A and several other world-class museums, such as the Guggenheim and the Louvre, have expanded their reach and visitor capacity by developing new outposts.

Above: The new entrance courtyard to V&A's main building in London (courtesy of AL_A).

Along with adding a new entrance and exhibition gallery to its London headquarters, finishing touches are currently being put on a new V&A in Dundee, Scotland.

Meanwhile, the Louvre opened its first museum outside France, the much-anticipated Louvre Abu Dhabi, in November 2017.